How the Omnitrix came to be
by LibraSnakes13
Summary: How did the Omnitrix came to be? Why were those particular aliens selected and how were they selected? Read to find the life of these aliens! Plus, I'm beginning to edit my grammar and story telling from the first chapters of 2006!
1. Upgrade and Gray Matter

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Welcome to my first and still continuing fanfic! For those of you just starting, I welcome you and I hope you enjoy one of the first Ben 10 fanfics of the internet. And, just to clarify here, I have taken the liberty to start fixing the random grammatical errors and poor storytelling devices seen here. I feel that I have improved enough with my English that it is time to recall the past and fix it up. If you don't see a "author's note of glory" in the early chapters, chances are that it has not been edited. I should also mention that a lot of self will not be canonical to the series since this was made early on in Season 1. I hope you all enjoy, "How the Omnitrix Came to be!"

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Upon a solar system distant from our own, lies a mostly green planet that was covered with conifer-like forests and tall, steep mountains. Deep blue oceans surrounded the island continents, basking them with minerals, warmth and water. The planet was calm, cool and considerate, with little modern alien civilization anywhere; it was ripe for adventure and for knowledge. It was known as Vulpin.

What modern civilization was there was surprisingly a school. Though relatively young compared to other, more famous alien schools, this one had already made a name for itself. The Petrosapian Academy (named after the folks who financed and ran it) was destined for victory and promise. It was just before sunrise in the school, and the first glimpses of movement were coming, to greet the cloudless day.

In one of the dorms of the school lies a curious student. He was not made of flesh like you or I was but of electricity and liquid metal. His name was Upgrade, and he was asleep….sort of. His body was in sleep mode as he recharged his energy from the previous day of training. His single eye was closed and he was on his metal bed with the recharger latched onto his chest.

Blissful sleep.

But suddenly, his internal alarm clock went off waking him up. His eye shot open as his sensors booted up. He got out of his cold bed and stretched, almost grazing the ceiling with his lanky arms. He looked outside to see if the sun has risen yet. He peered outside the window and saw the golden rays of the sun just peeping over the forest which surrounded Petrosapian Academy.

Upgrade was in a very special school. Not a kind of school where you learn mathematical equations and English. True this school taught that but it also taught something else instead.

Fighting.

And tons of it. Strategies, weapons, tactics, you name it. The fellow students would train their bodies to improve their endurance, to increase their strength, to be the best.

But these weren't ordinary students. These were students that were from different planets, different solar systems and different sectors. These were the best alien student fighters around and they were here for one purpose. To be the best solider.

Upgrade started making his bed. Early to bed and early to rise makes a biomechanical being healthy, wealthy and wise.

A snort from the corner. Upgrade turned to see Grey Matter still sleeping in his tiny bed. He snorted again and turned on his side. Even in bed he was acting like he usually did. Loud and full of energy, not like your typical Galvan. Upgrade smiled inwardly as he remembered the first time he met Grey Matter.

_Several months ago…_

"And I want you all to be very clear!" shouted the head master who was a Petrosapian, "this is not a camp! It is a school that trains you hard like little buggers! You better work your rear ends off because we're not going to kiss it! Ya' hear me, you freaks!"

"YES SIR!"

"GOOD! Dismissed!"

Upgrade quickly stood up and saluted the Petrosapian. He slouched back down, not looking forward to this at all. His wondering, ring of an eye gazed both hopefully and sadly across the solemn faces of the students. He wondered if he would find any friends. He doubt it, he was still young in this world. Barely a year old. He finished his traversing gaze and he walked quietly out of the building and picked up his precious few belongings. He then ambled slowly along the abysmal campus to his dorm.

The headquarters are divided into two sections, one for female and one for male. The buildings themselves were then designed to support certain aliens and their characteristics. Tall aliens like a Tetramand would get bigger rooms while others were assigned rooms more suited to their home climate.

Upgrade walked into building 11A (it had yet to be named, the Academy was still young after all) and he stopped at the front counter and waited patiently for the receptionist to come by. Finally, after 10 minutes, the receptionist came over to the desk.

"Name?" she grunted.

"Upgrade."

"Les see…..ah! Room 13L. Shared with Mathew Adams. Heh, good luck with him."

Upgrade did not know what she meant by that but he just nodded his head and headed to his room. After 15 minutes of getting lost and then finding his way again he found his room. From the distance he heard voices.

"Now Mathew darling we want you to take care of yourself when you are at school," exasperated a tiny but shrill voice.

"Yes son," said another tiny but less shrill voice, "it is important to know that you are the one that made this choice, and you are lucky to have enough guts to do this."

"ALRIGHT!" yelled another tiny voice. "YOU TOLD ME THIS A THOUSAND TIMES! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING THIS AGAIN AND AGAIN! AND CALL ME GRAY MATTER NOT MATHEW! GOODBYE!"

Upgrade knew it was not polite to listen but he couldn't help it. He was surprised to see that the voices were coming from his room. Even more, that it were Galvans that were talking. Small fidget-like creatures who can be scared half out of their wits if frightened.

As he passed the mother and the father who were heading out of the door one of them said, "that's our boy".

Upgrade was afraid to go in but forced himself to do so. When he got in he saw Gray Matter organizing his room, cursing and muttering to himself.

Upgrade cleared his throat (even though he didn't have one, he picked _that_ trait up by observing other people do it), "um…excuse…um….I'm going to be your roommate…"

Gray Matter turned towards his direction and sized him up. He seemed to study him as he looked across his sleek body.

"Hey…your one of those biomechanical things from Galvan B, aren't you? Phhht. Lucky. You don't have to deal with family issues."

Upgrade suddenly felt sad (a trait that he picked up not to long ago). "Yes, I do not have what one might call a family. My mother is not related to me and my siblings are all rejects who weren't properly formed. There are few of my kind that are as complex as I am."

Grey Matter smiled at the liquid-like alien. "My friend, you do not have to worry about being alone! I'll be your friend! Hey, you want to play some _Humanoid_?"

Upgrade brightened up. "_Humanoid_ is one of my favorite video games! I bet I can beat you!"

Gray Matter laughed. "Alright, but I want you not to morph with the controller otherwise I'll beat the stuffing out of you!"

They both laughed and from that day forward Upgrade was not alone.

-----------------

Grey Matter tossed and turned in his bed again, the sun rays were now poking through the window but he was not ready to give in yet. His clock was the alarm, not the sun.

Upgrade smiled to himself again as he viewed Grey Matter's sleepy battle. Turning back to the window, he watched as everything began to bloom in with color and life.

Today was going to be another great day, and, as Upgrade optimistically knew, it was another great day to be alive.


	2. Four Arms, XLR8 and Wildmutt

On to the next one! And I thank you to those who reply to my first story, your compliments have made me happy that this story is a success.

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

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Four Arms looked across the campus, his tall body giving him distances to see farther than any of the other aliens around. He stood proud like a regal king that was showing off his power. Beside him his pet, Wildmutt, gave a bark and started to twitch in anticipation. His fur stood on end as all of his senses were on the alert. Four Arms patted his royal pet.

"Now, now my royal hound. You'll have your fun when the time comes."

He looked around some more and found the best prey anyone could call for: Upgrade and Gray Matter.

"Heh, this is going to be fun." He leaned down to Wildmutt and whispered into his ear.

"Sick the nerds boy."

Instantly Wildmutt shot off like a rocket, his senses reacting to everything around him giving him pinpoint accuracy. His mouth hung open as he felt the cool air whistling pass him.

Gray Matter, who was on top of Upgrade, spotted the animal coming their way.

"RUN! WILD ANIMAL AT THREE'O CLOCK!"

Upgrade turned and saw the wild thing. He instantly ran as fast as his bloated mass would take him. He ran fast but of course, Wildmutt was faster.

Wildmutt made a leap and landed on top of them, slurping their bodies and almost eating Gray Matter in the process. The engineered aliens screamed as passing aliens laughed at the weaklings. Suddenly, a kick came out of nowhere and slammed into Wildmutt's face. He was sent flying onto the dusty ground, knocked out by the blow. A blue reptilian figure walked up to the unconscious animal and gave it a swift kick back to Four Arms.

Four Arms screamed in rage. "Why the hell did you do that XLR8! He is my friend and loyal pet, you should not treat him like crap!" He bent down slowly and took out a hypodermic needle. Carefully, he injected the serum into the animal. The animal whimpered, it made a groaning sound, and Wildmutt staggered back onto his paws. Still hurt from the blow but nonetheless, okay.

Four Arms turned to XLR8. "Why do you always have to ruin my fun!"

The alien hissed back to him, "Why do I "ruin your fun"? It issss not right for Prince Four Arms to go about making pranksss and being immature all of the time!"

"Curse you and you having to look after me, why don't you just stop doing that you blue freak?"

During this time, Upgrade and Gray Matter got back up. Gray Matter, being the kind one as he always was, said, "um….excuse me….uh….thank you for saving us."

Without turning around XLR8 said, "Buzz off freak."

"Well I never!" replied Upgrade, Gray Matter gave her a raspberry.

Upgrade turned around, and even though they have just been made a mockery of, the walked on like nothing had ever happened.

XLR8 walked up to Four Arms, even though she was smaller than him by a large degree, she still look intimidating.

"It isss most disturbing to have a soon to be leader of our race be a fool and a prankssster who thinksss life is one big joke."

Four Arms scowled at her.

"Listen here missy, I didn't come here for the heck of it, I was forced here by my father, the evil tyrant! And I'm more matured than you think, and besides why did you come here?"

"I came here because I am a Royal Guard In-Training. I am proud of the fact that I wasss chosen to be made a Royal Guardsman by the great King himself! And if you don't like it, fine! But listen here buster, you better damn well get use to it because it'sss going to be a long time before we're separated."

Four Arms sat down cross legged, he folded his arms together and closed his eyes. XLR8 continued, "You on the other hand are a disgrace to the royal family and can't even win in a fight against a Gorbons! I spit on you! You always make the same mistakes more than once too! I don't see what good those tortures were on you…."

Four Arms had shudder grandly as a memory flowed past his brain.

"_My son and his idiocy and denseness has almost cost us a battle. And I will not put up with this! I shall pull him into the torture room where he will learn his lesson! You are bad Four Arms! BAD! BAD! BAD!"_

_Four Arms as a child, is taken away by others of his kind. He is dragged like a rag doll across the concrete floor, he didn't know where he was taken, but he saw something. He saw a wooden chair and it had…_

Four Arms quickly stood up.

"For your information, I learn from my mistakes. And I will show you that I am strong!"

He pulled back his arms and let loose a shower of punches. However, XLR8 dodged each and everyone of them. He jumped up in the air and with a mighty kick, sent the giant down to the ground with a large thud.

"Feh, if you can't beat me without my gear, you are worthlessss." She walked away, her tail held high up in the air as she headed to her sleeping quarters.

Four Arms massaged his jaw. He looked at her while she was leaving and while petting Wildmutt he said to himself.

"One of these days…one of these days…."


	3. Before the Forest Trial

Crap. After reviewing my last flic, I realized I made some grammer errors so I'm going to be on the look out here. Sorry, no new heroes in this chapter!

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

Blue Rhino-Thank you for your comments about my story. I am glad that you helped me keep writing.

Eletric Ammo- We will see on Heat Blast. I got something special planned for him. ;)

Kraven the Hunter-Get ready for more surprises to come!

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Vilgax snarled.

_Why in the world do big plans have to take a long time to be completed!_ He thought to himself.

His robot Lt., QU2 stood nervously by. He was pacing the floor eager to receive an answer from his lord. He stopped and looked at Vilgax.

_Crap, he's snarling again._

Usually when Vilgax snarled, things weren't too good for him. And it would be best not to be near him when he does snarl. The last time he snarled, five people died and four mortally injured. Of course, this was all kept a secret from the public and it was reported that the victims "died from an animal attack". Reasons why this was kept a secret was that to the public, Vilgax was a "peaceful ruler who united everyone into one grand democracy". War was fought in the system for many centuries, and after Vilgax took over, he made peace. Vilgax though had other plans, after he got power in his system he devised a war plan so he could be ruler of the galaxy.

Vilgax stood up from his chair.

_Oh dear, he wants me._ The QU2 walked over to him and said,

"Y-Yes, Lord Vilgax?"

"Show me the test."

"But sir…we already told you what happened, when he transforms he-"

"QU2 show me the experiment."

He did not raise his voice but their was that harshness behind his words again. QU2 bowed and replied,

"Yes, come with me Lord Vilgax."

QU2 led Vilgax down a hallway. They made several turns and finally walked into a room that had a one way mirror through it. QU2 motioned for Vilgax to sit down, he did not. QU2 went up to a board and pressed a button, he said into the microphone.

"Bring out experiment 2A."

QU2 looked up and saw an alien that was being held down by two bodyguards. He struggled but it was of no use. The Body guards strapped him down to a table. The alien still squirmed but it made no difference. On his right hand was an odd mechanical strap.

QU2 pressed the button again, "Begin the test."

The nearest bodyguard pressed a button on the mechanical strap. Instantly a green flashed came from it. Suddenly, fire seemed to consume the aliens right arm but as it was doing so, diamonds appeared and started breaking out across his whole body. The alien screamed and started spazing out his whole body revertibrated as the diamonds and the fire seem to do battle on each other. After one minute, the alien split in half and died. Leaving disfigure form.

QU2 flinched. He forced himself away from the carnage and turned to his leader.

"Basically, what you saw here happened in the nine other experiments. The organism would at first be transformed as the targeted alien. But when things are going as plan the other aliens that are within the Omnitrix start to fight the current host, wanting to be freed. The host can't comprehend this and therefore splits. And as of now, we are only able to fit four aliens on the watch, not 11."

Vilgax was silent, he spoke quietly but harshly, "QU2, if you weren't such an important figure, I would kill you on the spot, but since you are high on the chain of command for this project, I won't do so. However, I want you to understand everything I say right now. If I do not have my Omnitrix within one year. You'll be pummled into a tin can."

He turned around and walked away. QU2 was twitching, he turned back to the experiment room to see the janitor clean away the mess.

_Pray to the creator I will not end up like that._

---

The Headmaster Mineralist spoke to his pupils in an assembly. Upgrade and Grey Matter were in the back trying to listen as best as possible.

"My students, it has been one year and we have trained you well. Our best hope is that you will be strong warriors that will show your race with honor. Now that one year of studying is done, we will now provide you with your first real test, if you win, you will continue on your studies here. If you lose, you shall graduate here as just an expert solider. You'll be put into groups of four. You'll be handed your assignments at your sleeping quarters. The groups are posted next to the cafeteria, I wish you all good luck."

Upgrade checked the group list, his large figure going down the names until he found his and Grey Matter's. He then saw the other two names and frowned inwardly.

"Oh dear."

"What? What is it!" cried Grey Matter from the floor.

"It seems to be that our two other partners are XLR8 and Four Arms."

"Crud." Said Grey Matter.

"Fear not my friend! For I am sure that they are excellent fighters, that can help us win battles."

"As long as we don't get slobbered on I am perfectly happy."

---

_The next day…_

XLR8 waited impatiently at the spot where the group was suppose to meet. She walked around in circles, cursing to herself about all the bad luck she had to deal with. She finally sat cross-legged onto the ground and waited. 20 minutes later, Upgrade and Grey Matter showed up, without opening an eye she said,

"your late."

"No were not!" cried Grey Matter checking his watch, "were here just in time!"

"When you're here on time, your late for battle!" said XLR8.

"Hmph."

They sat in silence, then twenty minutes later the ground started to shake. They turned to see Four Arms running towards them. Bounding alongside of him was Wildmutt.

When he stopped in front of them he started breathing rapidily while talking really fast.

"(Gasp) Sorry I was late! (Gasp) I forgot to set my alarm! WHEEEEEEEEZE!"

XLR8 looked offended while Grey Matter chuckled at the giant's stupidity.

Upgrade looked around and said,

"Well, now that we are all here, lets get going!"

XLR8 turned away from them and headed into the forest.


	4. The Forest Trial: A Disgrace to his Race

Sorry it took awhile for this one to come. No introducing new characters in this chapter. Sorry to disappoint any of you alien fans out there. Oh well.

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** not really just want to grab your attention. During this time XLR8 does not have her gear on, and Four Arms is wearing a backpack.

-Heatblast is not dead. That was just one of his kind. 

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Grey Matter smiled to himself.

_Aww…one of the useful advantages for Upgrade being friend. Transportation!_

He sat on the shoulder of the walking liquid-like alien as they (or rather everyone except Grey Matter) walked through the dense forest. It has been thirty minutes since they left the campus, and no one had spoken yet. Grey Matter liked it like that, it gave him time to think, to plan, to humble his little self. He was daydreaming about who-knows-what when he was finally given a wake up call from his mind from Upgrade.

"Well, now that we are a team, we should get to know each other, I am Upgrade and my buddy here is Grey Matter, what's yours?"

XLR8 said nothing. Four Arms though suddenly looked smug.

"My name is Prince Four Arms. I will soon be king of my country, and my people. I am looked highly upon by my race and by XLR8's race. I am the best of the best and my father, the king, looks upon me proudly. I am smart and can win at any battle. This is my royal pet Wildmutt. Who is the strongest of his kind around."

"WOW!" exclaimed Upgrade.

Grey Matter didn't buy it.

_Prince eh? He may be a prince but that's it. Upgrade my have fallen for your trap buddy but I can tell you're just a regular foolerounder._

"…and I have several fiancés waiting for me when I get back home. All of them as beautiful as a flower."

"Really! That is so cool!" replied Upgrade. "Do you wish sometimes that you just had the life of a regular person instead of having royal blood?"

"(Snort!)"

Grey Matter looked up to see who said that. Apparently it was XLR8 who still hadn't looked at them yet. Four Arms looked annoyed and said,

"Would you like to say something XLR8?"

XLR8 stopped by a tree. She turned around to them, they too stopped.

"Prince Four Arms there wants to be a doctor."

"Really?" enquired Upgrade who was scratching his head with his thick finger. "Why?"

Four Arms looked embarrassed, gone was his look of power. He suddenly looked like a child who was telling his parent the awful truth, he was twisting his hands back and forth with his head hunched down.

"Yeah…I want to help save lives and not kill them. Though wrestling is fun, I would never kill."

XLR8 walked up to him. Keeping the same look she had since they left the campus.

"I still can't believe that a member of your species wants to help lives and doctor them. Above all, to help the _weak_."

Grey Matter then said, "Why is that strange?"

"It is strange because on our planet, the two races are divided into two categories." She pointed a blue finger to Four Arms, "His kind are the best for ruling and for fighting, since they are strong, brave, and know what is best for their kind." She then put her hand on her chest. "My race on the other hand are more of the working class, they provide the food, the money, the medical aid, etc. Also since we are not bad fighters ourselves, we are sometimes hired to be royal guards, such as in my case."

"Grrrrrrrrr…..rarghhhhhhhhh…"

They turned around, apparently Wildmutt lost interest in their conversation and started chewing up a dead animal. He was wrestling to tear off the leg but it would not move, so he had to settle for the stomach instead.

Upgrade turned away from Wildmutt and spoke to her.

"I don't get it. Why is that such a big deal?"

XLR8 looked like she was slapped in the face, "THE BIG DEAL? It is like an insult for him to become a doctor! It is so embedded in our genes to become who we are! We honor the positions that we are given by the high command. But he" she yelled pointing her finger again at Four Arms, "Destroyed that honor. He became something that everyone despised. It was a disgrace to him and to his royal family!"

She was now boiling, she turned to Four Arms and screamed, "Why can't you be more like Diamond He-"

She stopped, her face expression changed from rage to a concentrated look. She got into a fighting position.

"We're not alone."

Wildmutt knew it too, he also got into a fighting position with his back arched up and his fur on end. Grey Matter and Upgrade looked around, they couldn't see anything in the dark forest but they heard a twig snapping. Grey Matter looked around some more frantic to spot them.

"I don't-"

"Shhhhh." Interrupted XLR8.

They waited and they heard the sound of growling, and out of the forest came two hairy creatures. They looked like Wildmutt except they were dark green in color.

"Bring it on furballs," said XLR8. She got into a leaping position when all of a sudden, two other creatures jumped from the trees and landed on top of her. The projected weight of the two of them made her slam to the ground.

"Grrr….get off of me you furballs!" she kicked one of them in the side and was able to heave the other one away. But a third one came from the trees and head butted into her making her fly through the air and with a loud crunch, into a tree, knocking her out.

_Crap,_ Thought Grey Matter. The four aliens looked around and saw that they were surround by twenty of them.

"So Grey Matter" said Upgrade, "Got any ideas?"


	5. The Forest Trail: The First Fight

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** Sorry Satsu, the chapter was too long to put Heatblast in, but I'll guarantee that he will be in the next one.

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Wildmutt could hear them quite well, there were twenty of them. Five from the east, five from the north, six from the south and four from the west. The carnivores were circling the aliens, drawing nearer and nearer, their hot bodies pulsating with blood as their hearts beat quickly. He was glad that he can finally do some real playing.

Four Arms was nervous,

_How in the world can we beat twenty of them when were out numbered 5 to 1? Crap, I should have trained harder and listen to XLR8._

His muscles tensed as his heart started beating faster.

_Which one of them will strike first?_

Upgrade was shaking hard.

_I can't do this! I am worthless when I face against nature! Curse my biomechanical body! Oh well, if I have to die, might as well die fighting. Must get psyched up, be the hero in Humoniod. Be Jack Smith and his intelligent ways. Yes! I shall win against the evil Communs! Wait…unlike in the video game….if I lose a life…I'm done for…._

Grey Matter's mind was working fast.

_Okay, think now…what are these creatures disadvantage? They can't see, and they have a strong sense of smell and hearing. So if we can turn their advantage into a disadvantage we could win. But how? Where can we get that kind of technology all the way from out here!_

He looked at Four Arms' backpack.

_Maybe…_

Suddenly, two of the creatures leaped out of the forest and toppled Four Arms over, he was able to shove both of them off and was able to get back up. With quick reflexes he picked both of them up and slammed them together making a bone crunching sound as their bodies made contact. He then hurled their limp bodies into the forest.

"TWO DOWN!" he yelled. But this brief triumph was quickly squashed as all of them leapt from the forests. Wildmutt jumped and tackled one in mid-air. As they were fighting they slammed onto the leafy ground, rolling around on top of the dirt. Wildmutt slashed at his enemy leaving blood everywhere, with another tackle he brought the creature down.

Grey Matter was having not as much luck. He dodged all the falling paws that came from the sky but it was of no use. One of them finally pinned him down, the creature opened its gaping mouth and swallowed him whole.

"NO!" Upgrade knocked down one of the creatures and ran up to the one that swallowed his friend. As he was running he yelled, "give him BACK!" he gave the creature a swift kick to the side making him spin through the air. As the creature landed, Upgrade himself jumped in the air.

"BODYSLAM!", Upgrade slammed on top of the creature making him throw up Grey Matter and knocking the creature out.

"Bleah!", said Grey Matter who was covered in bodily fluids, "If I have to go back in there again I'm going to kill myself."

Upgrade picked him up, "my friend it is not safe for you to be by yourself."

"Shut up." He replied.

Grey Matter looked at Four Arms, who was battling several of them at once.

"Upgrade throw me to Four Arms' backpack!"

"Right!" Upgrade said as he was kicking another of the creatures. He threw Grey Matter towards Four Arms. He landed on him and climbed into his backpack.

"Hey little dude!" yelled Four Arms as he was punching a creature that was glued on to his leg. "what are you doing!"

Grey Matter did not hear him because he was deeply concentrating. He looked around his backpack trying to find it.

_If this guy really is a foolerounder then he should have a…._

He saw it.

_Bingo._

Upgrade jumped out of Four Arms' backpack with a music player in his hands.

"Upgrade, catch!"

He threw the Music player towards him, Upgrade was about to catch it when one of the creatures jumped up and caught it in its mouth.

"Damn! Get back here!" Upgrade started chasing the creature around.

Wildmutt was faring better than the others, after he punctured the neck of one of them he easily took down another by doing another head butt. He gave an almighty roar to show his victory and his strength. He was about to continue fighting when the leader of the dark green creatures approached him. His brother.

Four Arms jumped up in the air, because of this sudden movement, Grey Matter fell off of him. Meanwhile Four Arms came crashing down doing a mini-earthquake with his four giant hands. This intense shaking sent everyone off balance including Four Arms. Four Arms was the first to get up, he got back into a fighting position when he saw something.

A green flag.

Wondering what that was doing all the way out here Four Arms picked it up. But he could not wonder any longer for one of the creatures jumped onto his back digging its claws in. Four Arms screamed as it tried to get it off of him.

Upgrade was the next to recover from the mini-earthquake. He ran over and kicked the creature that had the music player, he picked it up and smiled.

"Payback time."

Meanwhile Wildmutt was having a stale mate with his brother. They snarled at each other as they rolled around the foliage. Claws were flashing in the air as teeth were trying to bite into their opponents flesh. Wildmutt kicked his brother and was able to get back onto his feet. His brother looking at him with rage.

Over the loud battle a voice cried out, "Four Arms! Pick up Wildmutt and hold his ears."

Four Arms was about to do so when he suddenly called out, "Why!"

"JUST DO IT!" screamed Upgrade. Four Arms did as he was told and picked Wildmutt very carefully, he then held his ears. Upgrade then morphed with the music player, his body melting into it as his veins became wires, his nervous system became electricity, his brain became a computer chip. His body became more boxed like, his arms grew rounder and rounder and flatter and flatter. He became a boom box.

He tuned in to the nearest radio station and started playing music. Slowly he would turn up the music louder and louder until it was almost ear splitting. During this time, the creatures were preparing another attack, however, since the sound was far too great for their hyper-sensitive ears they retreated back into the deep forest.

Upgrade reverted back to his original form,

"Yay! We won!" he jumped up in the air and did a victory dance. But a thought struck him,

"Hey, where is Grey Matter?"

Four Arms was about to respond but one of the creatures who were knocked out started doing odd retching movements, it quivered back on its feet and threw up Grey Matter. The creature then fell down again.

Grey Matter himself tried to stand up again but fainted. Upgrade picked up his tiny friend, he turned to Four Arms,

"Lets get out of here."

Four Arms nodded, he picked up XLR8 carefully, and the two started walking back to the campus with Wildmutt happily skipping along.

When they got back to the campus, Upgrade and Four Arms carefully set down their knocked out comrades. Four Arms then set down his backpack and took out a spraying bottle.

"This should wake them up." He said.

He sprayed the formula onto their faces. Nothing happened for fifteen seconds then the two of them started waking up. Their eyes blinked opened, they looked calm for a second but that was about it. XLR8 sprang to her feet.

"What happened! Did we win! I can't believe you dorkssss are still alive! Please tell me did you get the marker or the flag!"

She spoke very fast, and was shaking very hard. She looked at Upgrade and Grey Matter.

"Please tell me you got the flag!"

The two of them shook their heads. XLR8 fell down to her knees crying.

"NO! I have failed! I can not graduate now in the highest position, I'll be a failure to my kind. They shall hate me forever, cursesssss! WAHHHHHHHHH!"

Four Arms never saw XLR8 cried before, for once he felt bad for her and that she had to team up with us. He looked down to the ground and put his hands in his pockets.

_Hello, what is this._ He thought.

He pulled out a dark green flag, he must have put it in his pocket without knowing it. He looked at the flag and then to XLR8. He held out the flag to XLR8.

"Is this what we are looking for?"

XLR8 looked at the flag, and then she jumped to her feet.

"Where did you get thisss!" she said trying to wipe the tears off of her blue face.

"Uh…I found it."

"You. Found it."

"Yeah sure in the forest. I guess we can stay here. We can still be a team!"

XLR8 cried harder.

---------

**IMPORTANT NOTE**: I am going to be extremely busy this week so it will be a while before the next chapter comes. I know you are eagerly waiting for Heatblast, but I will guarantee he and Stinkfly will come in the next chapter.


	6. Heatblast

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** sorry for the long wait guys. shows a very tired LibraSnakes13 at his computer. Things in my life got more…. So here it is, the intro to Heatblast and Stinkfly. It might not be very good since I wrote some of it while I was tired.

---------

_It's analyzing me, I can feel its scanning eye on me._

The robot looked at Heatblast with its cold, dead, red eye looking at him straight in the eye. Heatblast's eyes flickered to the other robots that hovered in the air, they then returned to the original robot which was hovering in front of him.

"Ready for some action Heatblast?" said Stinkfly who was flying right next to him.

"I'm ready whenever you are darling." Heatblast said.

Stinkfly scowled, "I told you don't call me darling!"

Heatblast gave her a wink and turned to DCELR8.

"Ready to kick some robot ass?"

DCELR8 smiled, "you bet.", Heatblast smiled and turned back to the robots. His expression suddenly serious. He got into a fighting position and waited.

Silence.

The robots hovered in midair for awhile and with blinding movement, sped towards the three students.

Heatblast jumped up and shot a fire ball towards the nearest one, he then jumped on one and rode on it like he was riding a skateboard. As he sped across the large white room, he fired random fire balls to the robots. The robot he was on top of meanwhile, was trying desperately to get him off. As a final farewell gift to the bucking robot, Heatblast jumped off the robot and shot a fire ball at it, blowing it up in midair.

Stinkfly flew through the air, god she loved it how the wind blew at her insect like face, her wings buzzed fiercely as she held out her sharp claws. They slashed through robots metal skin sending them crashing down to the floor. She made quick turns midair, always confusing her robots on where she is going next. A hail of laser bullets were fired as she flew through the air. With ease, she dodged them all, she then struck the robots down like a hawk swooping down on helpless dove.

DCELR8 sped through the slick floor as he hit his opponents at their weak spots, the robots didn't have any time to react to him as he struck the coup de grace blows. He jumped up in the air and did some lightning speed kicks to the nearest one causing it to blow up.

DCELR8 landed on the floor and yelled to Heatblast.

"Hey Heatblast, try to beat that!" it was brief, but DCELR8 did not focus on the battle. That was all that was needed for the robots as they took aim and shot down DCELR8. He fell down to the ground dead.

"NO!" Stinkfly too lost her focus in battle, she flew to her fallen comrade to help him but she was shot at too. She fell from the sky as her dainty body fell apart. Heatblast was in shock as both of his comrades died right in front of him. He looked at the robots with such hatred that his body increased several degrees Celsius.

"You'll pay for that you scumbags!"

Heatblast held his hands up in the air, he then began to make a giant ball of fire. The ball of fire grew bigger and bigger. The hot flames by now were licking the ceiling, everything around the room was catching on fire or melting. The robots were hesitating, do they dare attack him and in the process blow up the giant fire ball, or dodge the fire ball in hopes of missing it? They couldn't decide because just then Heatblast threw his fire ball at them.

The fire ball crashed down to the floor, the robots in the area were instantly incinerated. The others near them were blown apart from the sheer force. The fire ball showed no mercy. Upon reaching full contact to the floor, the fire ball blew up causing the whole room to fall apart, the building then fell down. Heatblast was the only one standing. He looked at the wreckage in dismay.

BANG!

A laser had went through him, he looked down at the gaping hole in his chest. He then screamed in agony and fell to the burnt ground. He turned around to see who shot him.

It was a robot.

His vision was getting blurry, he looked at the robot and his last words were,

"h-how….?", he fell back down and died.

---

The alarm rang.

"GASP!" Heatblast shot out of his bed. Looking around, he realized it was just a dream. He sat back down in dishevel.

"Just a dream."

"Had a nightmare again?" said DCELR8 who was sitting in his bed.

"No." said Heatblast gruffly as he got up.

"My friend, you must open up and not be closed like a book."

Heatblast glared at him.

"Shut up."

DCELR8 smirked, "just trying to help out."

Heatblast looked out the window.

"Do you think she's up?"

"Who, Stinkfly? Nah, you know her, not at all a morning bee."

Heatblast looked crestfallen and nodded.

DCELR8 looked at him with annoyance.

"God Heatblast! There are other ladies that you flirt with too! It's not just her! You are such a pervert!"

"I AM NOT A PERVERT! I am a ladies man."

"Pfft. Yeah right, most of the time you are just ignored by them or get punched in the stomach."

"That was because she loved me!"

DCELR8 rolled his eyes, "whatever."

"HEY! I bet you I can charm any lady with my good looks, personality, and fitness."

DCELR8 looked at him, "Is that a bet?"

Heatblast smiled, "yes it is."

"Okay then, I will choose your lady then for you to "charm over".

"Name your poison."  
DECLR8 thought,

_Okay then, who will be so revolted to him, that she can't get anywhere near him even if she loves him? Who….?_

He then thought up the perfect female. He smiled evilly as he thought what fun this could be.

"So….have you made up your mind?"

"Oh yes, I want your to charm over Ripjaws."

Heatblast smiled, "it's a deal".


	7. Ghostfreak

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** I am slightly sick soo….yeah….I do not know how good this chapter will be but after this it'll be good again.

This question has been bugging me ever since chapter 2 started. Why are Stinkfly, Ripjaw and XLR8 girls and not guys? 3 main reasons.

Do you know how dull it would be to write a story about 10 guys?

I wanted to make sure that all ten characters were different or unique. In order to help with that process, some of them had to be females.

And lastly and most scientifically correct. The DNA was copied from them and was given to Ben. Thus, if Gwen had gotten it (wasn't there a story about this?), all of the aliens would have been female. Also not only was the DNA copied, but in one aspect the body itself. The selected aliens are chosen because they are the best of their race. So we need, their DNA and their body. Okay….I don't know where I am going with this…

……..

Just deal with it:P

---------

Grey Matter sighed in his Adv. Chemistry classroom.

_Stupid idiots. They are sooooo slow, why the hell does it take them so long to figure out a damn problem?_

Grey Matter was bored to tears. His bulging eyes drooped as he tried to listen to the teacher's droning voice.

"…and can anyone give me the full name of K2SO4?"

Of course no one answered and in despite of himself, Grey Matter slowly rose his hand.

"Ah…yes Mathew?" said the teacher.

"The answer is obviously Potassium Sulfate." Said Grey Matter looking bored as ever, "And stop calling me Matthew!"

The teacher shook his head, "Mathew you must learn to like your name…"

"I HATE IT!"

The teacher shrugged and returned to the board teaching. The class behind Grey Matter sniggered but Grey Matter didn't care.

"Now class I want you to at least try to answer the next question, okay, who can answer…"

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Instead of the door opening, a ghostly figure floated in. Its eye looked at the classroom and then at the teacher. The ghost then floated to him and gave the teacher a piece of paper. The teacher took it in hand, read it, smiled and showed the ghost one of the empty desks. The teacher then cleared his throat and said,

"Well class it seems that we have a new student!" he looked at the piece of paper again, "Meet Penelope."

Grey Matter's jaw drop,

_HOLY SHIT! SHE'S NAKED!_

Apparently, Grey Matter was not the only one to reach this nude conclusion. The males in the classroom were looking her up and down, however not knowing where to really look, some looked at her tail, others her chest, and some her eyeball. Mathew shuttered and forced himself to look at the teacher again. Apparently, neither the teacher nor Penelope noticed that she was indeed naked. The teacher droned onwards,

"Now we will have a lab today and I will split you into pairs, lets see…ah! We'll first have Mathew and Penelope at table one."

Grey Matter's eyes were bulging (and that was saying something), the thought of dealing with this ghost freak was enough to send him chills down his little spine.

So Grey Matter grudgingly got out his little desk and started walking across the hard floor. To normal size creatures, the room was not very big, but to him, it was the size of a gym. He looked down the long desk hallway and sighed, no one helped him in getting across rooms, the only one that does that is his friend Upgrade. Everyone else does not help him because they think of him as an arrogant son of a bitch (though he couldn't see why they would think that). So it came to a real surprise and shock to him when he heard a ghastly voice behind him.

"_Neeeeed a little help?_"

Grey Matter turned around, there floating above him was the ghost like alien.

Dumbfound, Grey Matter replied,

"Huh?"

"_Your siiize, it is clearly slowing you down in reaching your target. Surly you have noooticed this by noooow."_

Grey Matter couldn't help but analyze this creature. She spoke, but no mouth move, and every time she did, she would sometimes make her vowels longer and her constantans sharper. Jaw still dropped, Grey Matter nodded vaguely.

He was finally shocked back to his senses when he was picked up by a chilling hand. He was too scared to speak, move, and even to whimper as she carried him across the room. She spoke again as if they were having a cup of tea.

"_The naaame's Ghostfreak, though my real name is Penelope. I like my other name better, yours?_"

Grey Matter found his voice.

"W-Well, my real name is Mathew but I like to be called G-Grey Matter."

Apparently, Ghostfreak did not notice that Grey Matter was scared, for she simply floated on. When they reached the lab, Ghostfreak gently placed Grey Matter down. Grey Matter felt a little woozy but was able to recover. Ghostfreak looked at him with her single eye.

"_So what dooo we do noooow?_"

"What do you mean?" Grey Matter replied.

"_Your small size prohibits you to even lift up a beaker, how doooo we even work?"_

"Well usually, I work out the lab and figure out how to do it, I also work out these easy problems. The person who I am working with gets to actually work the lab. And that person will be you."

Ghostfreak clasped her hands together, "_Excellent, I'm a real hands on type of girl."_

Grey Matter didn't know what she meant by that so he just smiled and nodded.

So they began on the lab, with Ghostfreak mixing the solutions and Grey Matter figuring out lab questions. After awhile, Ghostfreak said,

"_So why are yoooou here?_"

Grey Matter looked at her with his bulging eyes, "I am here because I wanted to prove to my kind that I am brave and not weak."

He returned to the problem that he was working on. Ghostfreak continued to look at him while she was heating up the solution. So they sat there for 30 minutes not talking to each other doing what they were suppose to be doing. It wasn't for awhile until they started talking again.

Behind them on another lab, were two occupants. They were having a conversation that was loud enough for Grey Matter to hear.

"…oh Yrg, I love you soo much!"

"yes Arg I love you too!"

Grey Matter, who couldn't help that he have heard it, snorted.

"_Whaat?_"

Grey Matter looked back up at her, "excuse me?"

"_Why did you snort?_"

Grey Matter looked at her weirdly, then he realized who she was talking about and said, "oh…that…uh…well….I always thought…", he saw the piercing eye on her forehead contracting as if staring him down, "…that love….is…uh….sort of redundant." He finished meekly, normally he is bossy and full of energy. However, been stared down by this ghost sort of squashed that completely.

Ghostfreak continued looking at him, then the bell rang. The teacher's voice rang out with it, "Okay class! Turn in your papers to my front desk!"

Ghostfreak did not move, she then said to Grey Matter before floating out the wall,

"_I liiike you Grey Matteeer, thaat is why I'm going to kill you last._"

Grey Matter was left speechless yet again.


	8. Stinkfly and Ripjaws

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** So I did some calculations on how long the story is going to be. I came down to the conclusion that it is easily going to be more than twenty chapters long.

---------

Upgrade was looking down at the pool that was shimmering in front of him. He was wearing his swimming trunks and had his goggles on.

_Thank the creator that I was given water proof skin._, he thought.

He looked to his left, other classmates had their swimming gear on, Upgrade look down the line further, there stood a student who looked like she was made to swim in the water.

_Typical_, he thought, _she probably signed up because it was going to be an easy class._

At this school, it was required for a student to sign up on any extracurricular activities. Naturally, he chose water since he was a good swimmer and loved to swim.

He looked at the instructor who was walking behind them,

"now I want each and everyone of you to swim to the other side and back in less then 5 minutes, if you can't achieve this goal, your going to have to do this exercise again!"

Upgrade sighed, so much work, so little time. He got into a diving position, ready to spring off from the side. The instructors voice rang out against the auditorium,

"ready, begin!"

He blew his whistle. At the sound of it, Upgrade jumped in and started swimming as fast as possible. His large hands pushed back the water that blocked him, he kept surging forward every time he took a stroke. The water would slide off his skin like glass as he sped through the water. After much stroking, Upgrade finally reached the side. He turned around and saw the marine like student already swimming back to the other side.

_Dang she's fast._ Thought Upgrade, he touched the wall and swam back to the other side using the same moves as before, he reached the wall worn out.

"All right you swimming maggots!" cried the Instructors voice, "lets now try back stroke!"

Upgrade groan, _maybe this was not as easy as I thought it was_. After an hour's work of swimming Upgrade was pooped. With what little strength he had left he went up to the marine student. She was already packing up her swimming gear as he held out his thick hand.

"You're a very good swimmer. If we had tournaments, you could easily beat one of us!"

She looked at him, her beady red eyes studied him for a moment, she then nodded and went back to packing up her swimming gear.

"My name is Upgrade, what's yours?"

He was caught by surprise by her voice he thought it would sound light and soft but instead it was the complete opposite. When she spoke, her throat sounded deep and guttural. Even though she uttered one word, it sounded loud and harsh.

"Ripjaw", she said.

"Oh…," said Upgrade taken aback by this tone in her voice, "uh…nice to meet you…".

She did not respond to his comment, feeling a little timid from her present he quickly and quietly left.

Ripjaw looked back up on where Upgrade just stood.

_Thank goodness he left, what would I say? Gah, never really was good with strangers, don't know what to say what to do! Oh well, luckily I'm not the leader of my group, I have good old Blizzard and Diamondhead with me. They can protect me, and tell people off._

She looked at the clock while she was picking up her backpack.

_Got to get going to the meeting, don't want to be late. Otherwise Diamondhead would be angry…or at least Yang would be._

She started walking fast through the slick auditorium. Her claws would sometimes hit against the hard floor making a loud _clink!_

Down the hallway, through a door, down another hallway and out the main door. She breathed the fresh air that slapped at her face, she started walking again to the spot that their meetings were usually held, under a large tumtum tree.

She stood at the spot waiting.

_Hm, that's odd, they are usually here by now…wait…_

In came running Blizzard, she panted as she ran right to where Ripjaw was standing.

Ripjaw always found her looks both interesting and appealing. Her skin was that of a light bluish color. Her long hair was that of brilliant white, her eyes were that of a deep blue ocean, and she looked dainty in appearance. Despite of her originating from the same planet and have the same ancestry as Diamondhead's, her body built could hardly be more different. Interesting how these things happen.

"Sorry I am late!" she said panting, "class sort of held me back."

Ripjaw replied meekly, "It's okay."

Ripjaw looked around, "Where's Diamondhead?"

Blizzard went off in a frenzy.

"Oh you know him, one moment he wants something, and the next he hates it. Wait…" she held up her hand clearing her throat, "let me try that again. Well basically, yesterday he was all hyper and wanted to have some fighting done, and he did not want to beat up me so he went to go sign up for some training exercises. And wouldn't you know it but that day was full, and he was all pouty about it and said he wanted to fight something really badly. So he signed up today and it had to interfere with today's group meeting. But guess what?"

Ripjaw shrugged though she had a pretty good idea what Blizzard was going to say next.

"Well today he was Yang and before he left he said to me that we should get ready for the Earth Trial. Not a happy camper!"

She finished this brightly and smiled, though Ripjaw couldn't see why anyone would smile after all of this, so she just shrugged and said,

"Typical."

"Well," continued Blizzard, "since this meeting has no more use I guess I better going!"

She waved a happy goodbye which Ripjaw returned, though not as enthusiastically.

Ripjaw stood at the same spot not moving, _hmmm…what can I do now? Usually, after the meetings I go over to the sports arena and watch Heatblast play. But it is still too early for that to happen…so…I guess I'll just walk around._

Ripjaw started walking, even though she didn't know where she was going she would eventually see to it that she should get to the sports arena, but right now she just felt like admiring the nice weather.

Apparently she was so enthralled with the weather that she bumped into someone.

"Sorry…" she muttered, the creature did not return the apology. She kept on walking not really wanting to see who she bumped into.

Apparently, she bumped into Stinkfly, which in this case, she saw who she bumped into. Stinkfly looked at Ripjaw walking away with a look of annoyance and shock on her face.

_Crap,_ she thought, _damn liars. Said that they would be only recruiting my kind to this place. What in Queen's name is a Crocodilian doing here? My mother was right, "never trust other species that do not have six limbs!"_

She flew under the same tumtum tree that Ripjaw was at earlier. She waited for her teammates patiently to show up. It wasn't long before DCELR8 showed up.

"'ello!" he said.

"Hello DCELR8," she looked around, "where's flame boy?"

"I don't know, you know him, he can be distracted if he sees a pretty dame."

He chuckled, Stinkfly looked at him sourly.

"Stop that, you know how I don't like that attitude of his."

"Hey, hey I was just making a joke…don't get your eyestalks all up in a twist."

Stinkfly did not respond, they waited for five minutes until Heatblast finally showed up.

"Hey guys," he called, "I didn't know we started so early…hey can we make this quick? I was going to play some sports."

"Fine," said DCELR8, "I'll make this quick."

He handed out a slip of paper to the two of them.

"Read that slip of paper, that is the date of the Earth trial. It is also the place we have to meet before we are transported to our destination. Do _not_ lose it."

"I'm sorry," said Heatblast, "I already caught mine on fire."

DCELR8 sighed.


	9. Diamondhead

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** Spring break is coming….so anyone know what that means? Looks around and sees no one right by him, that's right I'm going on vacation for a week! So this should be my last entry before I leave. I know this sounds bad but don't worry, chances are that I will have my laptop with me and during driving time I shall write the story.

Sorry that this chapter is so short!

---------

And far away from the tumtum tree was a large building that held training practices for the students, inside this building laid many large rooms that were excellent for fighting in. Each room was special not on what it looked like, but the foes and the tasks it provided.

In one of these rooms was a student who was waiting to battle. But he was not just any student, he was student who was so grand in the nature of fighting that he was condemned the best at the school. He was a Mineralist, and by the looks of it a very serious one. He stood average in height and his body looked bright and smooth as if it was chiseled onto. The Mineralist's arms were folded and his head hung low with his eyes closed. He wore a black and white jumpsuit, around his neck was a yin/yang necklace and he wore large padded gloves on his hands. Upon his shoulders and shins were also padding, though by the looks of it they were probably filled with weights. The Mineralist waited patiently, for any moment now the training will begin, his name?

Diamondhead.

In another room that was set right besides Diamondhead's was a control monitor, sitting right beside it were two operators. They looked at the monitors which showed Diamondhead still standing there.

"Doesn't look like he has lots of energy like he did last time." Quoted one of the operators.

"No, in fact he looks quite calm, heh, well lets see how calm he is after he gets a heavy dose of our new robots!"

The two operators were talking about their last incident with Diamondhead, who was so full of energy that he zipped through the room destroying the robots before they could fight back. And for the fun of it, he did some pretty radical moves that were life threatening. After his victory, he did a victory dance around the stadium.

The operator frowned upon remembrance and pressed a button, "Begin the training."

Hovering robots came out of a large door, they zipped threw the air like wasps, ready to home in on their target.

One of the operators smiled,

"Heh, these robots have been upgraded. They now have speed and acceleration on their side. Even if Diamondhead did have his energy, he couldn't catch these buggers!"

The two operators looked at the monitors again, Diamondhead still stood there relaxed with his eyes closed.

The robots hovered some more, then five of them shot lasers at the standing Mineralist. The lasers shot through the air and landed on their target. Because the lasers collided, a small explosion was made and smoke was produced. The smoke exploded outwards covering half of the vicinity, the robots hovered and waited.

And out of the black cloud lit up two, grey eyes that looked intimidating.

The eyes blinked.

And for no apparent reason, the five robots that shot at Diamondhead suddenly grew diamonds within their own bodies. With this foreign element growing inside of them, the robots couldn't handle the weight and destruction from within and died.

The smoke cleared.

Diamondhead was still standing their, unphased, his eyes were open and his arms hung down.

The robots were going nuts, they started to spin around him quickly shooting their laser bullets, but it would have been better to throw paper for it was not working. The lasers were bouncing off of Diamondhead's skin, he did not even wince as they made contact with him.

He raised his right arm and held his covered hand out. He gripped it slowly. And the robots that were flying to his right were suddenly having technical difficulties for diamonds grew out of their exterior, they exploded in midair.

Seeing that shooting was no longer working, the robots took out chainsaws and revved them up. They shot downwards to the still standing student. The chainsaws buzzing in anticipation.

Diamondhead lowered his right arm. He folded his arms and closed his eyes. The robots attacked him, again, and again. The chainsaws having no affect on him. Their sharp edges getting duller and duller. After a minute of this relentless but futile attack Diamondhead raised both of his arms in the air with his hands outstretched. And this time he quickly closed them.

All of the robots died. They fell to the ground with diamonds growing out of them.

Diamondhead, having not moved from his spot, kicked the robots away, turned around and walked out the now open door. The room was now full of diamond shards and dead and dying robots. If the robots were still alive and had feeling, they should would have been proud that they were beaten up by the great Diamondhead, the best student at the academy.

The operators were shocked.


	10. Before the Earth Trial

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Well I wrote this story at my Uncle's house. My next story will not be up until next, next Sunday. Sorry!

Anyway….now that we are done with introductions, it is time to get more in-depth to our characters. It is time to now really get into our story! I congratulate those who figure out Diamondhead's little secret. Little hints like those really tell the character who he/she is. If you go back and reread my story. You can begin to get an idea who these characters really are. From here on out, we shall dig into them. Why are they here, how they got here, who they are, and what will become of them. It is just the beginning. 

---------

The head Mineralist's voice rang out across the large auditorium.

"Students! As you may all know, you are about to take the Earth trial. I trust that you all took the preparation note seriously. For this trial is nowhere as easy as the Forest trial. That trial was just a warm-up, this is something else, something different. Wherever you are fighting, a desert, swamp or even a tundra, you must be tough. You can't enjoy the leisure of an AC or a heater. You must have Endurance. And if you do not have this vital element, you _will_ die. We have sent a note to those of you who we feel are too weak to participate. Only you have the liberty of staying here and graduating or staying on at the academy. I wish you all good luck."

—

Four Arms waited for the transporter. His medical bag and backpack at his side. Growing more and more timid as he waited by the stop. He checked his stop number again, 89, he checked his slip of paper, 89. Any minute now they should be here.

"Who are you looking for?"

For Arms jumped. He turned around and saw XLR8 in her suit. He breathed easier again.

"For you and the others. I was beginning to think that I was at the wrong spot. I'm glad you are here.

He scratched his head.

"Where are the others?"

"Don't know, don't care."

Four Arms smiled, ever since the Forest trial, XLR8 had not talked to them because she was knocked out during the battle and was saved by Four Arms, Grey Matter, Upgrade and Wildmutt. Her pride was slightly wounded also because she did not fight at all while they did.

After two minutes, Upgrade showed up with Grey Matter on his shoulder.

"Hi guys!", said Upgrade, Four Arms waved back, XLR8 did nothing.

Upgrade continued, "Well now that we are all here shall we…"

"Hold it." said Four Arms.

He held his hands up to his mouth, he yelled, "HERE WILDMUTT!"

His cry echoed through the land. They waited, and then they heard the sound of paws hitting the ground and a familiar panting.

They saw Wildmutt in the distance, he was running at them at his fastest speed panting wildly. He screeched to a halt in front of them and gave a large bark.

XLR8 looked at him in disgust.

"Why is that _thing_ coming with us?"

"Because he is very helpful to us. You didn't see it, but he helped us a lot by fighting off the creatures." Said Four Arms.

Wildmutt barked again.

"I thought he would be helpful to us if he came along."

XLR8 snorted. She finally looked at Grey Matter who had not spoken yet. That's odd…why hasn't he spoken up yet. The normally rude and loudly spoken attitude of Grey Matter is not present. Grey Matter looked….depressed and sad.

She quickly dismissed this thought, hell with it, why should she care?

She saw the transporter coming.

"Come on losers, we must get going."

Upgrade nodded, he made one final look at the campus and climbed on. And while he was doing so, off in the distance he saw a fleeting image of a Mineralist also climbing on.

—

And that Mineralist happened to be Diamondhead. He quickly got onto the bus excited to get going.

"OH MY GOD! I CAN'T WAIT! THIS IS GOING TO BE SOOOOOOO EXCITING!"

He smiled greatly as he jumped onto the transporter. His emerald green eyes shown brightly as he looked at his female comrades…who were slower in getting on then he was.

"Hold ya' horses Diamondhead!" cried Blizzard. She moved on slowly and smoothly. Her blue eyes shown beautiful like the flowing sea. She also gave a smile to Diamondhead. His heart fluttered with joy.

Ripjaw was the last to get on. Her web feet climbed in awkwardly on the cold floor. She had a bad feeling about this trip.

"HEY!" cried Diamondhead, "Who wants a high five!" He held out his large covered hand in the air. Blizzard gave it enthusiastically.

"YEAH!", screamed Diamondhead, "That is what I am talking about!"

He held his hand out to Ripjaw who gave it meekly.

"Cheer up!" cried you-know-who, "this is going to be a blast!"

Ripjaw smiled, she nodded and for some odd reason did not feel as lonely. She looked out the window and saw something else that made her heart flutter, Heatblast.

He was very close, he was in the transporter next to there's. She could see him through the clear windows. His smiling face made him look happy, he was talking to his buds and was not catching sight of Ripjaw, much to her displeasure. He looked mighty handsome, tall, sleek, slender, she began to daydream about her and him…

—

Heatblast burped.

"Well lets get this trial over with. I want to go back to bed to sleep."

"And have wet dreams again?" sniggered Stinkfly. She laid back on her seat away from the boys. Heatblast's heart quickened in beat.

_What a beautiful voice, _ he thought, _her quick witty comebacks make up for her tomboyish attitude. In fact that just makes her even more lovely. However, I must concentrate now on my new lover. What was her name?...Rimjar..Rinpaw…Ripjawn. That's it Ripjawn._

DCELR8 sat in the back of the transporter.

"I do not see why you have to be so negative to him Stinkfly. Heatblast is such a nice guy."

"Thank you DCELR8!"

"He maybe that," said Stinkfly, "but he is still a pervert. And I _loath_ perverts.

Stinkfly looked out of the window again, DCELR8 laid back in his seat, and Heatblast thought.

_Such a nice voice._

And then he too fell asleep, and he slept long and well for they were being taken away in a distance far away from the academy.

To the mountains.


	11. The Earth Trial: The Finding of Wildmutt

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** And so begins the Earth Trial! The objective is the same as the Forest Trial, get the flag. Simple, no? Anyway, while I was on vacation I thought up of a really cool story that I will begin soon. It is also a Ben 10 story. YAY! Anyway….I must prepare you the mood of the story. Here it is.

---------

_It's cold._

Four Arms struggled up the tall mountain. He panted loudly as each hand reached for another peaking rock. Sweat was rolling down his eyes as the cold wind blew at him with a galling force. He shivered, he yelled out,

"When are we going to take a break!"

A voice 20 feet to his right yelled back,

"In about thirty minutessss."

Four Arms groaned and kept on climbing.

Somewhere above him Upgrade yelled,

"Do not worry friend! We will rest in no time! Just think happy thoughts!"

Four Arms did not hear him due to the howling wind but he bet it was something corny.

"Bark!", cried Wildmutt who was skipping up the mountain side. Like a mountain goat, he would leap from rock to rock like a graceful creature. Four Arms wished he was that nimble.

After five minutes Four Arms broke the windy silence again.

"How long have we been climbing?"

"About three hourssss! Now shut the hell up!"

Four Arms cursed as he kept climbing.

---

Upgrade was humming his favorite song.

_Just keep thinking happy thoughts…just keep thinking happy thoughts…just keep think-man it's cold!_

Upgrade stretched his hand and grabbed another rock. He heaved he and Grey Matter up. The cold was really getting to his body, if he didn't get to shelter soon his body might go haywire. This possibility made Upgrade climb faster.

He wondered if the cold wasn't getting to him only. Grey Matter (who was in his backpack right now) had not talked to him since….well…since the morning before they left. He wondered if he did anything to offend Grey Matter, he hoped not. Grey Matter is not a creature to anger, when he is in his tantrums, he can be dangerous.

Upgrade climbed faster.

---

XLR8 sighed heavily. She loved being in the outdoors. Made her feel so alive, also the threat of being pushed to death made her excited. Please god, don't mess up nature, don't mess up the quiet.

"WHY DO I HAVE TO CARRY ALL OF THE FREAKIN LOAD!", shouted someone to her left.

XLR8 began to get mad real fast, "Because, Prince Four Armssss, you are the strongest of all of ussss, this is showing how you can help ussss out."

"I'm tired!"

"SHUT UP!"

_Must control myself from killing the heir to the throne. Think about…nature…yes…nature…quiet…harsh…unforgiving…beautiful…murderous._

"Can we take a break now?"

"FINE!"

XLR8 jumped onto a large platform. She yelled to the others, "we'll camp here for awhile! Now I don't want to hear any more complaintsss!"

"Yes!"

Four Arms did a victory dance as Upgrade took off his back pack.

"I think we should take a rest for the night, look." He pointed to the sun in the distance.

"The sun is setting which means night fall is coming, temperatures will drop severely. If we are caught out in the open we will surly die."

Four Arms was setting up the tents, "at least we will sleep and regain our strength. I'm pooped!"

Grey Matter silently jumped out of Upgrade's backpack, he looked around and snorted. He spoke out loud, "Why don't we keep going? We can make at least 5 more kilometers before the sun totally sets."

XLR8 turned on him so fast it was a blur.

"Listen here buster! We have been climbing the mountain for about three hoursss while carrying our suppliesss. You on the other hand get to sit back and relax and enjoy the comfort of the backpack. Frankly, you do nothing! You never pull your weight around to help ussss! Your always finding excusesss about not helping out such as "I'm too small!". Well I don't give a damn about your excusessss! You are so uselessss! You never fight, you never participate in sports, you can't hunt, you can't do anything. Nerds should not occupy the battlefield!"

Grey Matter was so lost in words that he did not know how to reply. He was angry, then, slowly his small face turned to sadness. Tears were welling up in his face. He turned around and ran to the tent that Four Arms had just set up. XLR8 gave a huff and walked off.

"I'm going to look for some fire wood. Don't get lost freaksss!"

It was now Four Arms turn to be sad. He looked at the departing XLR8 and looked back to the ground. He gave a big sigh and continued to set up the camp. Wildmutt, sensing that his owner was sad, walked over to him and rubbed his leg and gave a low purr. Four Arms smiled a little and petted Wildmutt.

Eager to change the subject, Upgrade enquired,

"So…where did you get Wildmutt?"

Four Arms looked at the liquid-like alien, he studied him with his four eyes. He pulled up a collapsible chair.

"Sit down." He said.

Upgrade did so, the chair groaned under the weight of Upgrade. He breathed heavily, releasing the tiredness that had been building up from the climb. Four Arms began,

"I found Wildmutt a year and a half ago. That was about the time the academy started. I did not like my room or my roommate, he was always bragging away about something, and was mean to me. So I escaped to the woods, to get away from my sleeping headquarters and be somewhere more….quiet.

After a week of living in the forest, I found Wildmutt. He was wounded, his front left leg was broken and there was a large claw mark across his back. When he first saw me, he tried to run away but ended up falling down. He then tried to defend himself but because he lost a lot of blood, he ended up fainting. Being a doctor, I immediately took care of him. I bandaged up his leg and his back. Every day I fed him meat and some fruits that were high in Vitamin C. He slowly recovered and by and by, he was healthy again. When the time came to release him, I took off his bandages. He looked (or rather heard) at me curiously, I told him to go but he wouldn't budge. I knew he was an odd one, mainly he acted differently from the rest of his kind and his fur being orange, so I didn't know if he was going to kill me, or love me."

During this time, Wildmutt, who even though could not understand a single word he said, suddenly remembered something.

_Creatures were approaching him, biting at him, barking at him. One of them particularly was his brother. He was now the leader of the tribe, the old one died and he took his place. He hated Wildmutt, and even though he was his brother he ordered him killed. Wildmutt wanted forgiveness, wanted to be-_

Wildmutt shook his head.

_Past. Bad. Things are better now. I have new brother._

And right before he fell asleep, the last words he heard were,

"-and since then we created a brotherly bond. I was able to heal his wounds and his mind. He is happy."

_Sleep. Blissful sleep._

"SNORE!"

Four Arms looked down, Wildmutt was sleeping, curled up in a tight ball he gave another loud snort and then slept quietly.

Four Arms smiled, but then looked sad again.

"XLR8 is a different matter though. She has wounds so deep that not even I, being a doctor and all, can not heal."

Upgrade looked at him with his single round eye.

"Why? What happened?"

Four Arms shifted positions uncomfortably, he looked around and said.

"Alright, but you must keep it a secret since few people know of XLR8's past."

Upgrade tightened his scarf and was ready to listen.

Four Arms sat back in his chair.

"This is the story of a young female named XLR8. She was the brightest of her kind and the sweetest. But that was before the accident happened. An accident so terrible that it changed her life forever."

Upgrade sneezed and began to listen to the story.


	12. The Earth Trial: Water Stone

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** So after the Earth Trial I am going to update this into Action/Adventure/ROMANCE. So this story will indeed have some (if not a lot) love in it. And it should be an interesting experienced because I never have written a love story before (mainly Science Fiction). But I have read some romance stories that will help me! Like Fruits Basket! YAY Fruitsbasket! It is soooo funny and cute! I was surprised when I found out that it was a girl's manga (since I'm a guy and I'm reading it). And all of the characters in story are soooooo cute or hot! And the guy characters are sooo cute too! cough well anyway….the point of this ramble is that the relationships are going to start after this trial.

---------

Diamondhead was looking up at the mountain. His green eyes squinted as he tried to find the top. The wind blew at him from all directions as he was searching. He looked for a little bit more and gave up. He turned to his female comrades.

"I don't see the top yet. And we have been climbing for some time, but never fear! We shall make it!"

Blizzard smiled at him and continued on setting up the tent. Ripjaw (who was in many layer clothes) said nothing.

Diamondhead looked at the two of them, he then had that urge again. He tried to repress it but it was too strong. He ran up to Ripjaw with his hand up and said,

"Hey Ripjaw! Give me a high five!"

He held out his gloved hand to hers, she finally smiled at him and gave it to him. He then ran up to Blizzard. With one large finger up in the air he said,

"Now give me a high finger!"

Blizzard laugh and gave it to him.

"AUSOME!" yelled Diamondhead, his voice echoed through the mountain range. He then yelled,

"I shall now go get some fire wood!"

He ran off leaving the two girls by themselves.

They said nothing to each other for awhile, and then when Blizzard was done she said,

"Well Ripjaw, now that Diamondhead is gone, what should us female creatures talk about?"

Ripjaw, who was in her own little world, was brought back suddenly by this comment.

"Uh…", she stuttered, "boys?"

Blizzard pushed back her long flowing hair and sat down cross-legged next to Ripjaw.

"Okay, who shall we start with first?"

Ripjaw looked at the direction on where Diamondhead was previously standing. Blizzard followed her gaze and made the connection.

"Ah…so you have an eye for Diamondhead eh?"

Ripjaw shook her head vigorsly.

"Then you don't like him?", said Blizzard.

Again, Ripjaw shook her head.

"Then you just want to be friends?"

Ripjaw nodded her head.

"Do you have anybody that you like besides us?"

Ripjaw paused. Should she confess her extreme liking of Heatblast? Up until now she has not told this little secret to anybody. She was afraid somebody might laugh at her or tell Heatblast. _When I am certain that Heatblast likes me back, I'll tell her._

Ripjaw shook her head.

"Oh…well, I'll get the mattresses out and start pumping air in them."

Blizzard walked over to the large backpack that Diamondhead was previously carrying. She opened it up and pulled out two large deflated mattresses. She unzipped a smaller pocket and pulled out an air-pumper. After a some fiddling around, she started pumping air into them.

_Piff…whoosh._

_Piff…whoosh._

The soft sounds eased Ripjaw back into her deep thinking. She closed her red eyes and was breathing deeply.

_I feel it. The cold is beginning to slow me down, I'm feeling drugged. Oh Earth Creator, give me the endurance that you have long so forsaken me of. Give me the energy to fight on, to live. Diamondhead please hurry up with the fire wood. I must be around heat otherwise I will go into a hibernation so deep that it would kill me. Please Diamondhead hurry._

_Piff…whoosh._

_Piff…whoosh_

She put her hands in her pockets and felt something there. She pulled it out.

It was a hand size blue gem. It shown brightly from the pure snow and reflected Ripjaw's image many different times.

She suddenly remembered a memory from an old planet that she called home.

"…_here it is Ripjaw." Said the Interpreter, "this Water Stone has been dawn with the great Sea Creator's power. He has heard my calling and as answered it most generously. Carry the Water Stone with you at all times, for the place you are going to will not be as wet as home. If you carry this gem wherever you go, your body will not run out of internal water and you will stay wet and alive._

_Piff…whoosh._

_Piff…whoosh._

Ripjaw held the water stone tightly in her gloved hands.

_Please Sea Creator. I don't want to die. I want to see my home again. I want to live._

"HEY GUYS!"

Diamondhead came back to the camp with a plentiful amount of firewood. He set the wood down in a circular pattern and took off his gloves.

"Well I'm going to get the fire started so then we can be toasty!"

Blizzard, who was done pumping up the mattresses. Looked at Diamondhead and said,

"Well, I'm going to get something to eat, what do you want Diamondhead?"

"Oh, if you can find any Granite in this area that will be great. But if you can't, then I'll settle for some shale."

Blizzard nodded, and walked 20 feet away. She began to pack lots of snow together into little round balls. She then went searching for rocks to please the hunger of Diamondhead.

During this time, Diamondhead was getting the fire started. He rubbed his hands in hard and fast. After a minute, sparks began to appear and before you could say Earth Trial, Diamondhead got the fire started. In the middle of the fire he put a large skittle with a fish on it.

Ripjaw edged closer to the fire.

Blizzard had returned with the "food", in her hands were several tightly packed snow balls and rocks of different kinds.

"Here ya go Diamondhead."

She handed him the rocks. He looked at them and sighed.

"Rats, sandstone, oh well."

He crunched into the hard rock and began to eat loudly. Blizzard meanwhile was eating the snow balls daintily and politely. She took small helpings of each bite and waited until she was done chewing. Ripjaw didn't touch her fish yet.

After five minutes of silence (except for Diamondhead's loud chewing) something extraordinary happen.

Actually two things happened in the course of just three minutes. In this short time, the quiet scene turned into a disaster.

Ripjaw was sitting cross-legged on the ground, she began to wobble and fell down. Blizzard looked at her.

"Ripjaw?"

No answer.

"Ripjaw?"

Still no answer.

"Ripjaw!"  
Blizzard stood up so fast that her food went flying. She ran to the unconscious Ripjaw who was now laying face down on the cold ground.

"RIPJAW!"

"What is it!" said Diamondhead who too got up.

"Ripjaw fainted! She is not responding!"

Diamondhead went nuts.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! SHE IS GOING TO DIE! OH MY GOD! WHATAREWEGOINGTODOWHATAREWEGOINGTODOWHATAREWEGOINGTODO!"  
"DIAMONDHEAD!"

Diamondhead stopped running.

She grabbed hold of him. She looked at him in the eye with a piercing gaze.

"Calm down."

She hated to do it, but there was no choice, he had to do it.

"Please, calm down."

Diamondhead looked at her, his body slowly grew untense, his face seemed to change as if he was molding to another person. His eyes turned to a slate grey.

His yin/yang necklace sparkled against the snow.

"Right.", he said. Gone now was the wild, happy Diamondhead. He was replaced by someone calmer, someone who can plot and plan fast and greatly. Yang.

"What we first need to do," continued Diamondhead, "Is to get her near the fire. Blizzard, I want you to find all the snow you can and melt it in the fire. We will then pour the water into her mouth. Hopefully that will get her going."

Blizzard nodded. She was about to do so when the second incident happened.

She saw something in the distance, it was a tall, grey humanoid thing. It looked like it had its arms raised. It shot something towards them.

A rocket.

The rocket came zooming in there direction, Blizzard began to panic.

"Uh…Diamondhead?"

Diamondhead saw it too.

"GET DOWN!"

He pulled her down to the snowy ground. The rocket went speeding over their heads and into the mountain. An explosion happened and all hell broke loose.

An avalanche started.

Blizzard screamed despite the fact that snow avalanches can not kill her. She screamed because it was out of pure terror of something so monstrous that it was threatening to kill her. The avalanche roared down the mountain like a mighty lion charging at its prey. The giant slide took down trees, rocks and other debree. No one was spared from the onslaught. Without a moment's hesitation, Diamondhead held out his hands and formed a crystal dome around the three of them. The snow fell down on it, the dome hold but it was beginning to break. Large cracks appeared as Diamondhead tried to hold his ground. After a awhile he too was beginning to shake from the sheer force of nature.

"Can't….hold…much…longer…going…to…"

Diamondhead stopped for he fainted, and the dome shattered.


	13. The Earth Trial: DCELR8's choice

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Heheh. Sorry about the long wait. Note: the mountain range that the aliens are on is called Albino Range.

---------

Out of the three groups that were climbing the mountains, probably Heatblast's group was doing the best. There are many reasons why that is. One is that the fellow students were able to keep warm from Heatblast's fire, enabling them not to camp as often to get warm again. Another reason is that Stinkfly can fly and thus deliver supplies much quicker. And third, they were stubborn and were good at hiking (or in Stinkfly's case flying).

But this lesuire time of getting up the mountain easily will soon be foiled. Not only will they not be the first team back from the mountains, but will be one of the last. For in the end, Heatblast and the rest of the aliens stared death in the face.

---

So now we turn to Heatblast's group, currently they are taking one of their rare breaks from their hiking. The three sat around a campfire and were telling horror stories to entertain them. It was Heatblast's turn in telling a story.

"…and the girl opened the door and she was shot by the monster within it, the end."

"That was the crappiest horror story ever Heatblast!" exclaimed DCELR8.

"Yeah!" replied Stinkfly, "I can tell a story better than you can!"

"Hmph." said Heatblast, "I thought it was a very good story. I can't believe you didn't like my story! Oh well…it's your turn to do a story Stinkfly."

"Oh Okay…hmmm…well, there is a story from the locals here about Albino Range. A story about some divine killing."

Heatblast raised a flaming eyebrow, "really? What is it?"

"Well I don't know all of it since I just heard snipits of it. But it is said that Albino Range has the ability to eat hikers."

"Eat?" said DCELR8.

"Yes, well…sort of. Rumor has it that Albino Range is home to a monster that will eat any organisims in the middle of the night. The name they give this monster is varied, but mainly it is known as "Albino's jaws" or "Albino's poison".

"Why these two names?" said Heatblast.

"I don't know. Mind you this is just a rumor. But what's truly certain is that everytime they send someone to Albino's Range they never come back."

DCELR8 snorted.

"Ah! That's just a story to scare the children into not doing stupid things. I pay no heed to it if I were you."

"That was an alright story Stinkfly, I would give that story a-AHHHHHHH!"

Heatblast lept from his chair and started shooting mini-fireballs out of his finger.

"KILL IT! KILL IT!"  
He started stamping the ground with his firery foot.

"DIE! DIE! Stand back I'm going to fire a big one!"

DCELR8 and Stinkfly needed no second warning. They scrambled out of the area as Heatblast shot a fire ball at the cold ground. The fireball blew up on impact and left a gaping hole in the ground.

"Phew!" said Heatblast, "It's dead."

"What the hell was that all about!" yelled DCELR8.

"Huh?...Oh…it was a _disgusting_ bug. I didn't want to give it any chance to live so I killed it.

When he spoken this Stinkfly looked at him so evily that she began to shake with internal rage.

"A bug…?"

"Yeah, nasty little things aren't they?"

"NASTY?"

"Yeah…they…oh…", he finally caught sight of Stinkfly who looked like she was going to kill him.

"Oh crap.", said Heatblast.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Stinkfly lunged at Heatblast. He was caught off guard and therefore fell to the ground.

"SPECIEIST! YOU DIRTY SPECIEIST!"

She started pounding and beating up the helpless fire alien, Heatblast managed to cry out, "Please stop!"

"WHY WON'T YOU FIGHT!"

By now they were on top of each other and were rolling around the hard cold floor, getting dangerously close to the edge of the mountain.

"I DON'T HIT GIRLS!"

This seemed to add fuel to Stinkfly's anger because she yelled, "OH? YOU WON'T HIT A GIRL EH? SEXIST!"

She shot acid out of her mouth and onto Heatblast's face, Heatblast screamed in angony.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!"

They were by now very close to the edge of the mountain and if they got any closer they will fall off.

Which gave DCELR8 a very evil idea.

Quietly he tip-toed to the wresteling duo. And with a slight kick, they tumbled off of the edge with Stinkfly's screams echoing across the dark passage.

DCELR8 peeped over the edge and smiled. No one in sight.

His smile got even wider, that means no arguing anymore, no more constant quarrels that annoyed him for over a year.

He was free.

"Hehehe." he chuckled, "goodbye Heatblast. Goodbye Stinkfly. Hope you have a nice fall!"

He chuckled again at his sheer inteligence.

_With them gone, I can finally have a relaxed mind. And when they ask me what happened to them, I'll truthfully say 'they fell off the mountain._

He walked towards his stuff and started packing.

_Now to continue on on my journey._

He chuckled once more, he was almost done packing when he caught sight of a leathery book.

_Hello. What is this?_

He picked up the book, the cover said _The Five Creators _and at the bottem of the cover was Stinkfly's signature.

Curious of what this book was he turned to the first page and began reading.

_In the beginning of time there were no animals or plant, there was no earth or land, or sky or sea. There was nothing but a baren wasteland where time stood still. But that was before The Five Creators came. When they took sight of this world they wanted to breathe life into it and set it straight._

_Said the Earth Creator, "I will mold the world into a sphere, and make it ablaze with fire."_

_And the Earth Creator did what he said. He made the world into a perfect sphere. He gave it rich minerals and made it active so the world would not be cold._

_After this, the Land Creator said, "I will form terra and I will control the active earth so it can be habitable."_

_And the Land Creator did what he said. He made mountains that towered into the sky. He made canyons that dug into the soft earth. After his doing the world had land to stand upon._

_After this, the Sea-_

"GAH!", exclaimed DCELR8 as he slammed the book shut, "Just a stupid religeon. No need for this hunk of junk."

And with all of his might he threw the book over the edge and into the snowy darkness.

"Teh! Good ridance!"

He put on his backpack and walked to the side of the mountain. Lifting one hand and extending the other, he began to climb.


	14. The Earth Trial: DSEL

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** This is probably going to be one of my favorite chapters. For in this chapter, you must keep you eyes peeled open. There are going to be a lot of references to later chapters from this memory.

Note: the memory takes place before the memory in Chapter 2.

---------

We now return to Four Arms' group. XLR8 went on a walk to find some fire wood. Grey Matter is in his tent and Upgrade is listening to a story that is told by Four Arms. A story about XLR8.

"Well," said Four Arms, "It all started many long years ago on my planet. XLR8 and I were little tykes then…"

------

_Ten years ago…_

King Four Arms III sat on his royal throne, his mind was in deep concentration as his subjects looked at him wearily. He gave a huge sigh and got up from his royal chair. His subjects tensed, they dare not talk because it is considered highly rude to talk before the king does. Finally, King Four Arms III said.

"DSEL."

"Yessss, your Royal Highnesssss?"

"What is your advice on the situation?"

DSEL cleared his throat, and thought for a little bit. He wanted to make a good decision, after all, he was the head royal guardsman. One of his many duties of that job was to help make strategic planning in times of war.

"Well ssssir, we can attack from the west. Even though that area is full of swamp, we can try out our new weapon which should surprisssse the enemy and therefore, we can get the upper hand. Furthermore…"

"DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!"

DSEL and the rest of the members turned to see who yelled that. Bursting out of the door and running down the large room as fast as her little legs could carry her, XLR8 ran up to her father. She held out her arms revealing a bouquet of flowers, neatly picked and beautifully arranged.

"I pick these out for you Daddy!", said XLR8 whose face was beaming with joy and happiness.

DSEL smiled.

"There lovely XLR8."

"Can you come and play with me?"

"No sweetie, daddy has some work to do with the nice gentlemen."

XLR8 looked at her father curiously, "Issss it "war" again daddy?"

A look of sorrow overcame DSEL's face but it was quickly squashed by a kind smile.

"Yessss, daddy is talking about war."

"What'sss war daddy?"

DSEL coughed. He looked at King Four Arms III who looked highly amused. XLR8 cleared his throat again.

"I tell you later. In the meantime why don't you play with your cousin DCELR8?"

"Oh…but Daddy!", whined XLR8, "he playssss rough!"

"Fine then…why don't you play with Prince Four Armsss…if that is alright with you your Royal Highnessss."

"It is. It is. Right now he is in the Royal Garden."

"YAY!", screamed XLR8. She ran as fast as she could to the great garden.

After five minutes, she finally reached it. She looked around seeing if she could find the great prince.

"Four Armssss!", she cried, "oh Four Armsssss!"

"Over here!"

XLR8 ran to the voice. She brushed aside tree leaves and jumped over fallen logs. After some running, she found him in a clearing. His back was turned to hers and it looked like he was holding something.

"Hi Four Armssss!", yelled XLR8, "What'cha got there?"

Four Arms turned around.

"I'm holding a butterfly!", he said opening his hands to reveal a gorgeous insect, "I always liked butterflies…in fact I liked any sorts of butterflies!"

"Do you want to be a butterflyologist Four Armssss?"

"No silly! I want to be an insectotoligsts! I think bugs are the greatest animals ever!"

"Does that mean were going to go hunting for bugssss again?"

"Yep!"

"YAY!", shouted XLR8.

-------------------

"XLR8 was one of the happiest girls ever," said Four Arms who was reviewing on the past, "she was one of my best friends ever. Even though we were different races and sexes, we were so young and innocent that we didn't mind."

Upgrade sighed warmly.

"XLR8's father was DSEL, he was the Head Royal Guardsman, one of the highest positions that anyone could take. He earned that position just like my father earned his. Through royal blood. DSEL was one of the greatest fighters of his race, and an elite strategist too. During the war, my father would ask advice from him, DSEL would know what to do and lead the army to victory. DSEL loved his daughter so much, and XLR8 loved her father with as much love. XLR8's mother died when she was very young leaving her to be the only heir to her father's position. It looked like it was going to be a happy life for XLR8, until that faithful day…

-------------

_We were outside in the royal garden with XLR8's father. It was a hot day and so we decided to swim in the river to cool off._

"Now XLR8," cried DSEL, "Don't swim to far, there are dangeroussss animalsss in the river!"

"I'm okay daddy!" shouted XLR8, who was part way in the river.

"Hey XLR8!" said Four Arms, "Lets play Parco Molo! You can be it!"

"OKAY!"

XLR8 closed her eyes. She held out her hands and cried, "Parco!"

"Molo!" said Four Arms.

"Parco!"

"Molo!"

DSEL, who was sitting on the bank watching them couldn't help but smile.

"Live to love and love to live.", he said to himself.

He couldn't help but beam at the sight of the two royal children. Playing in the stream without a care in the world.

But something was amiss.

DSEL began to sense that something was wrong, the waves began to ripple oddly, the water changed color.

"Parco!"

"Molo!"

"Kidssss!", shouted DSEL getting up, "time to get out!"

"Oh but daddy!"

A giant, red tentacle broke the surface of the cool water. It raised upwards into a menacing position ready to strike.

"GET OUT NOW!" shouted DSEL.

The tentacle lunged at XLR8, but just as it was about to hit her, DSEL ran in front of it and blocked it.

XLR8 screamed, Four Arms saw the tentacle and froze in his tracks, to scared to move.

"GO!", shouted DSEL as another tentacle rose upwards.

Finally getting the feeling back into her legs, XLR8 ran back to the bank as fast as she could.

She turned around and saw her father blocking another tentacle attack. But a third one came up from his behind and grabbed him. The tentacle was squeezing the life out of him and it was taking him back down underwater. It looked like the monster was going to win if it wasn't for DSEL taking out a knife and slicing the tentacle open. A ghastly screech was heard as the tentacle let go of DSEL. He swam back to the surface as fast as he could but he was stopped. Another tentacle grabbed his leg and it was pulling him underwater again, he struggled with all his might but a dull SNAP! was heard as his leg was broken.

The last few moments XLR8 saw of her father was his face. It looked at her and with a solemn face he whispered.

"Goodbye…XLR8."

He was pulled downwards to the watery darkness. Bubbles rose up….and then…silence.

XLR8 broke down in tears crying for daddy to come back.

Four Arms was stunned.

------------

"After the incident," said Four Arms who looked gloomier then ever, "XLR8 was kicked out of the royal palace. Since she no longer had her father in the castle and has not come of age, she was considered worthless. Ever since that incident, XLR8 grew a deep fear to hydrophobia, she always gave rivers, ponds, lakes, oceans a wide berth. Never wanting to have what happened to her father, happen to her. She was raised in an orphanage and a rough one of that. There she was trained to be cruel, to be strong, to truly learn the meaning, "Survival of the fittest". When I came back in contact with her, she was no longer the happy child that she was."

Upgrade sighed this time a mournful sigh. Realizing that he was tired, he got up and went to the tent that was for him. He left Four Arms looking at the dying fire with a look of deep thinking within his eyes.

After awhile all was silent, and then Upgrade screamed. He rushed out of the tent and looked around frantically. His single eye bulging as he began to look for something.

"What is it?" said Four Arms who was looking at Upgrade.

"No…no…", said Upgrade to himself, "where is he?"

"Who?"

"It's Grey Matter!", said Upgrade with a note of panic in his voice, "he's gone!"


	15. The Earth Trial: Albino's Teeth

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** And here we are to the next chapter of the Earth Trial. Enjoy! Sorry this chapter took awhile, I was incredibly busy this week!

---------

Blizzard sighed.

She lowered her hands slowly, breathing hard since she was tired. It worked, the igloo held, and they were safe.

For the moment.

Even though her eyes were open she could not see anything because it was dark. But even though it was, she looked around the room, hoping to see something. She called out in the cold darkness.

"Diamondhead? Ripjaws?"

The walls soaked in the sound, leaving a hollow, dead silence.

"Diamondhead?"

She heard a groan to her left, she crawled over to where the sound came from. She felt around with her dainty hands and was able to find Diamondhead.

"Diamondhead…wake up!"

Diamondhead groaned again, he slowly sat up and opened his eyes too.

"W-where are we…what happened?"

"We're in an igloo."

"How?"

Blizzard could tell that Diamondhead was tired, his dimly responses means that he hasn't recovered yet from the avalanche.

"When you fainted, I was able to put up an ice shield just in time. Luckily the avalanche didn't hold much longer and I was able to keep the igloo intact."

Diamondhead's head was spinning, he didn't understand a word she said but he just took her word for it.

"Right….so how do we get out?"

"Simple!"

Blizzard raised her hand as high as it could go, and with her ice powers, she was able to make a small hole appear from the ceiling. Light flooded in as the igloo darkness disappeared. Diamondhead blinked several times before he said.

"Good. We must now continue on to get that flag."

"Uh, Diamondhead, we have a problem."

"What?"

Blizzard pointed her finger at the sleeping Ripjaws. He caught sight of her on the floor.

"Oh."

Diamondhead scratched his head. He then said,

"Alright, here's the plan, Blizzard, you must go get the flag from the mountain top. Since you are made of mostly of ice, you can get to it quicker than I can. I'll stay here and take care of Ripjaws."

Blizzard nodded. Before she left she said,

"Make sure Ripjaws does not die! If she does, I will make you into jewlery!"

She then climbed out of the small hole from the top of her igloo and disappeared.

Diamondhead sighed.

"Well, I might as well try to get out of this ice chamber."

He looked up at the hole that Blizzard had just made, it was too small even for his arm to get through…much less his body. He then approached the wall, he looked at it and sighed again.

"What did I do to deserve this?"

He began punching the wall, hoping to shatter it and making an entrance. After five minutes of constant punching, Diamondhead stopped. He breathed heavily, he still had not recovered from the avalanche yet, and he had not broke the wall yet.

"Gah…how can I get through?"

A voice in his head answered him.

_You know Yang…if I was in control now, I would have us out of here in no time._

Yang hated it when Yin butts in like this, it disturbed his peace of mind.

"Buzz off."

_Temper, temper Yang. I bet you that if we had things…my way…I would have destroyed that wall in seconds._

"Well your not in control now Yin!", shouted Diamondhead, "now please let me think."

Diamondhead closed his eyes. Yin was silent.

After a minute of silence Diamondhead opened his eyes.

"Now Yin…I want absolute silence, if you talk it will break my concentration."

_Oh Yang, your soooo like that…"Be quiet you worthless mood"…or…"let me concentrate!"…but…I'll be quiet this once to see how well you do._

Yang waited for his voice to stop, when he sure it was, he closed his eyes again. Channeling his energy, he pulled back his left arm. All the energy was pulsating into his arm and his legs began to wobble. The arm began to shake, intensifying as each second passed. When he was ready Diamondhead opened his eyes.

"YAAAAAAH!"

He threw his arm forward, it made contact with the icy wall. The punch sent reverberations across the igloo. The igloo then shattered like glass and fell onto the floor. A gaping hole was present now.

Diamondhead collapsed to the floor exhausted.

_YAY!_, cried Yin, _We're free! Now we can get some fresh air!...Yang?_

Yang was knocked out, apparently, he used up so much energy that he fainted, with a sleeping Yang, Yin saw his chance.

---

Diamondhead opened his eyes once more, this time revealing a grassy green color in his eyes. He stood up quickly.

"YES! I'm back!"

Diamondhead did a victory dance before he stopped and picked up Ripjaws.

"Alright princess, lets take you outside."

Diamondhead took her outside, she still was unconscious and her breathing was shallow. Diamondhead laid her down carefully. He looked around trying to find something.

"Now where could that be…Ah!"

He found his large gloves near the entrance to the igloo. He picked them up and put them on his hands.

"There we go!"

He turned back to the blanket covered Ripjaws, she looked peaceful, with her closed eyes and her smiling expression that was full of teeth. She did indeed look beautiful, and a little bit cute.

Diamondhead's heart melted at the sight of her.

"Ah…nature is so wonderful."

BAM!

Diamondhead was thrown to the floor unexpexectically. A creature landed on top of his back, nawing on his neck trying to pierce his diamond skin.

"What the-?"

Diamondhead stood up trying to get the animal off of him.

"Geroff me!"

He grabbed for the creature, his hands enclosed around the brute's neck. With all his might he threw the creature to the ground. But just as he did another animal tackled him making him lose his balance and falling to the floor. The creature was on his chest and was looking at him straight in the eye.

It was here that that Diamondhead truly saw what his foe looked like. They were lion sized, with white fur to blend in with their surroundings. Their mouths were wide and were displayed with many rows of teeth. It had yellow eyes that were pierced with black slits. And their breath smelled horribly.

Diamondhead punched the creature in the jaw. Sending the creature flying through the air. The creature landed on the ground wimpering.

"Get out of here you wild mutts!"

_Scrape…scrape…_

Diamondhead turned, the creatures apparently gave up on Diamondhead and were now dragging away Ripjaws carcuss.

"YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The creatures turned around and saw him coming at them in a rage. Not wanting to stay here any longer, two of them picked up Ripjaws and bounded off. Diamondhead ran after them but it was of now use, the creatures were too fast for him and got away.

Diamondhead stopped running.

"Where there's a fine how-do-you-do."

He sat on the ground.

"Now, what should I do?"

Blizzard's voice rang inside his head,

_Make sure Ripjaws does not die! If she does, I will make you into jewlery!_

Diamondhead stood up quickly.

"Yes Mrs. Blizzard! Right away!"

He then ran with all his might to find the kidnapped, aquatic alien.


	16. The Earth Trial: Albino's Poison

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Haha. I thought that last chapter sucked. Seems like every time I think I made a really bad chapter, everyone says it rocks. shrugs, oh well. We now return to Heatblast's group!

---------

_Drop…pishhhhhhh…_

_Drop…pishhhhhh…_

'_What's that noise?'_

_Drop…pishhhhhh…_

_Drop…pishhhhhh…_

'_Where am I?'_

Heatblast opened his eyes.

At first it was dark, but then he lifted his head up from the ground to see that he was in a dimly lit cave.

'_How did I get here?'_

_Drop…pishhhhhh…_

_Drop…pishhhhh…_

Heatblast shook his head. His whole body ache. He felt like he pulled several of his muscles. He tried to get up but the pain was too great for him so he flopped back down.

_Drop…pishhhhh…_

_Drop…pishhhhhh…_

'_What's that noise?'_, he said, repeating it in his mind.

'_Why does it feel like I have droplets of water on my back?'_

_Drop…pishhhhhh…_

_Drop…pishhhhh…_

With a large groan, Heatblast turned over onto his back. He looked up and saw a large hole in the ceiling of the cave. A drop of water fell on his head.

_Drop…pishhhhh…_

The water was a nusciance to him. He groaned again and rolled his body away from the falling water drops.

_Drop…_

_Drop…_

Heatblast sighed in relief. His slowly waking up mind was moving faster.

_How did I get here?_

Then Heatblast remembered, the mountain, the bug, the angry Stinkfly, the fight…the fall. Heatblast looked up at the ceiling again, he looked at the hole that was directly above him. The fall…Heatblast then put two and two together, he and Stinkfly must have hit the ground hard enough to cave in the ground. Both of them must have been knocked out unconscious from the fall. If Heatblast was here then that means…

Heatblast looked to his right despite the sharp pain that stabbed his neck. There, laying 3 meters to his right, was a knocked out Stinkfly. From the looks of it, she was more hurt then he was.

Several of her body parts were sticking out at an odd angle while others were broken and bleeding. Two of her legs were broken, one of her arms was twisted giving a look of uncomfortable ness. A wing was bent, and some blood was trickling out of her mouth.

Heatblast staggered onto his legs. He held a standing position until the pain ebbed away.

Heatblast approached the injured Stinkfly carefully.

"St-Stinkfly?"

Stinkfly groaned. She laid motionless on the hard ground.

"Stinkfly? Are you alright?"

Without opening her eyes, Stinkfly said,

"Don't touch me you pervert."

Heatblast took that as a yes.

Heatblast sat down next to the motionless Stinkfly.

"So…what do you suppose happened to DCELR8?"

Stinkfly grunted.

"Well I hope that bastard gets the flag. Because if he doesn't, we are so screwed."

Heatblast wasn't paying attention to the conversation. His eyes showed blankness as he was falling in a deep trance with the body of Stinkfly.

So helpless.

So needy.

So cute.

She needs _me._

Heatblast's mind can't help but to feel pity, to feel lust of that body. The helpless body.

The-

"Heatblast!"

Heatblast was shocked back to his senses.

"Huh? Oh…yeah…don't worry…DCELR8 won't let us down. He's no back stabber! I'm sure that after he has gotten the flag, he will come back down and look for us."

Stinkfly snorted again.

Heatblast looked up at the giant hole upon the ceiling.

"Hey…want me to carry you out of here?"

"NO! I do not want you to touch me with your pervertish hands! Much less, I do not want you to burn me! I can do it myself!"

Stinkfly's wings began to vibrate. Stinkfly got to her feet to prepare for take off. She was too weak though, and she fell back down.

"Do _not_ help."

"I wasn't going to."

Heatblast began to form a giant fire ball.

"Well if you do not mind, I'm going to take a look at the view outside!"

And out of his hands formed a fire column. He jumped on the fire column and shot up, up, up. He flew out of the cavern and onto the mountain ground.

The fire column disappeared, the heat melted back down to coldness. Heatblast looked around. He looked up the mountain.

Even though he is good at making fire columns, he was still to weak to travel up the mountain. He sighed and turned to the setting sun.

The sun's body was lowering across the horizon. The rays stretching out like vines across a tame garden. Slowly, the sun began to turn from yellow to orange.

"Beautiful.", said an admiring Heatblast.

------------------

But little did Heatblast know that with the setting sun comes a great danger. A danger that is right now affecting DCELR8…

Higher up the mountain, DCELR8 was dying.

Crawling with all the strength he had left, DCELR8 approached the flag.

The flag was tied to a small wire. It was mostly brown and written in bright colors was EARTH. DCELR8, who was pulling himself to the flag, started coughing and was two feet away from the blood.

"…damn…", he murmured, "…why…is it began to form around his fingers. His feet were freezing up, the mechanical gear that he was wearing was cracking and was shorting out.

DCELR8 coughed up some blood. With what remaining strength he had left, he grabbed the flag.

"…haha…got it…I must now….go home."

The snow collapsed under weight. He tumbled down the mountain. Hitting jagged rocks, and sharp spears of ice. Cutting through his mechanical armor and into his skin. He eventually stopped tumbling but it was a hard price to pay.

With blood shooting out like mini geysers, DCELR8 threw up, and started shivering wildly.

After all of this, he still held the flag.

"…father…", he said to himself, "…I have…failed…you…"

The temperature dropped. DCELR8 threw up one more time, and suddenly, laid motionless.

His now limp hand let go of the flag. The howling, icy wind blew it away. Sending it flying through the air. Down it went, to the base of the mountain.

-----------

Albino's range is different from all your other ranges. It has a natural defense. Whenever the sun sets, a terrible cold known as "Albino's poison" sweeps down the mountain in one huge path. The reason why it is called Albino's poison, is because it has the ability to kill its victims slowly.

Death by coldness is a terrible way to die.

And so, Albino's poison is right now heading down the mountain. And guess who is in the line of fire?

Heatblast.


	17. The Earth Trial: Uselesss

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** In order to fully understand this chapter and get the emotional appeal to it, re-read Chapters 10 and 11. On we go!

---------

Gray Matter was restless.

He tried to fall asleep but every time he did, he would start to have nightmares.

Nightmares that would shape themselves into evil, monstrous things. Things that threatened to kill him. To take his name, his identity, his soul.

Cold sweat pored down Gray Matter's little head, his eyes were twitching, he felt hot yet at the same time freezing cold. His small body shivered violently.

"What is this...", he said to himself, "What is this madness?"

The pupils of his eyes were small, they reverberated madly as they looked up, down, side to side and back to up. He closed his eyes.

"Must…get to…sleep."

He closed his eyes.

----------------

_One week ago…_

Gray Matter was in his room. As usual he was studying hard and writing down various notes. His small pencil would scribble stuff down every time he found something worth note taking. A sudden knock on his door broke his concentration. He sighed and said,

"Come in."

A robot messenger wheeled into his wheel, with his mechanical voice he said,

"Special delivery for Mr. Adams."

Gray Matter jumped out of his twig-like chair and off the desk that belonged to Upgrade. He walked to the robot messenger. The robot looked down at him and said,

"you're Mr. Adams?"

"Ay."

The robot took out a letter and lowered it down to Gray Matter.

"A message from the head Mineralist."

Gray Matter's heart began to beat fast. A message from the head Mineralist? What could it be?

Gray Matter took the letter with both of his hands.

"Thank you," he said.

The robot bowed and exited the room.

Gray Matter set the letter down carefully. He looked at the letter pondering what could be inside.

"Maybe….", he said to himself, "it is a promotion. Maybe they finally found my talent in being so smart! I'll be recognized! My fame shall reach far distances and many people will come to me for advice!"  
Now excited, Gray Matter ripped open the letter, he pulled out the piece of paper inside. It said:

_Dear Matthew Adams,_

_As you probably know the Earth Trial is a week away. Due to your body built and lack of endurance, we strongly feel that you should not participate in the Trial. The chances are extremely high that you will die from this experience. It is your choice though on whether you want to go or not. If you do go, you will continue your stay here at the academy. If you do not go however, you will graduate and we will send you back to where you live. Report your decision to Zophos Building by at most two days from now. If you do not give us your decision, we will conclude that you want to stay here and thus participate on the Trial._

_Hope you make the best decision._

_Artesia, the head Mineralist._

Gray Matter read the letter once, twice, thrice and a fourth time. Thinking that it has to be some awful practical joke he checked the envelope. On the front it said:

_Matthew Adams_

_Building 11A, room 13L._

_Letter approved by the head Mineralist._

On the top-right corner of the envelope was a stamp that said,

_Head Mineralist Approved._

_­_Gray Matter fell down in shock, it wasn't a practical joke, it was real.

For a moment there was silence, then Gray Matter started to cry.

---------------------

Gray Matter's eyes shot open. He gasped in the air and started breathing heavily. He sat up and felt drowsy. He felt sick to his stomach.

"Oh….", he groaned, "maybe I should go on a walk."

He got up, he swayed a bit from where he stood but soon he was able to control his bearings. He walked to the entrance of the tent. He unzipped it and peaked outside.

Apparently, Four Arms was in a deeply involved conversation with Upgrade. Four Arms would tell his story using exaggerated arm movements. This seemed to thrill Upgrade and made him sit at the edge of his seat.

Quietly, Gray Matter snuck out of his tent. His now clammy hands zipping up the entrance.

Tiptoeing with cat like thread, he snuck away from the camp and into the mountain field.

Apparently, Gray Matter's idea of a walk making him feel better was wrong. Not only did it not make him feel better, it was making him feel even more sick faster. Hallucinations were now appearing before his very eyes.

Gray Matter tried to shake the feeling away but it would not go. Finally, after five minutes of walking Gray Matter stopped.

"I….should just t-turn back."

Gray Matter looked around, where was he?

"Damn…am I lost?"

Gray Matter started walking in a random direction.

"Surely…I can't be lost?"

He tripped over a rock, the fall made him tumble down the mountain side. He tossed and turned like a rag doll as he hit pointed rocks and jagged minerals. He finally came to a stop.

Laying motionless on the ground.

Again he started crying as he heard familiar words enter his mind.

_Uselesss…uselesss…uselesss…uselesss._

"I'm…not…useless", he whispered.

_Uselesss…uselesss…uselesss._

"No, please god, let me die in piece."

Eyesight getting blurry, he tried to stay in focus of the world but it was no use.

_Uselesss…_

Four giant paws walked in front of him. Their whiteness blended in with the snow that it was standing upon.

Gray Matter smiled.

"Good", he said in a whisper barely audible, "I will die quickly."

His eyes closed. A tongue rolled over his body licking at him. Then, jaws seemed to softly close down on his arm. It picked him up gently, and then he had the feeling he was be carried to somewhere.

Death?


	18. The Earth Trial: While Ripjaws sleeps

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Here it is! Sorry it wasn't here earlier. Something was seriously wrong with my login acount. Oh well!

---------

_Feces_.

Diamondhead sniffed the dung that had steam coming out of it.

_Fresh._

The tracks that were nearby the freshly laid excrement were deep. Diamondhead measured them with his large finger.

_Hmmm…about two inches. I'm on the right track!_

"Here I come Ripjaws!" yelled Diamondhead.

He jumped in the air and then started to skip. He skipped with gleeful joy as he was searching for his kidnapped friend.

------------------

_In her deep hibernation Ripjaws was sleeping peacefully._

She dreamt of being back at her home planet. Where the humidity was over 95 and large parts of the world were covered in shallow swamps. She saw herself in the greenish waters swimming like a graceful and beautiful mermaid. Her legs morphed into her tail and she swam through the water at full speed. She smiled a toothy smile as she saw fish dart around her and seaweed trying to reach up and grab her with their flat fingers. She loved home. She loved everything about her home. The life, the plants, her family, the air. It was perfect.

Except the war.

The water turned from its calm color into an acid green. She screamed underwater as the acid bubbled around her skin causing it to rot. Pain, unbearable pain seethed across her body. She felt her skin cells peel away and her nose and mouth began to deteriate. She swam up and broke the surface. She looked up in the air and saw them. They are destroying her home, they have finally reached her home. The acid flew through the air like bombs. Trees fell, the life-filled water bubbled, fish floated up to the surface dead. In the background she could hear her loved ones dying. If she only had the power to make the enemy stop. Make them go away.

And a scent caught her nose. One that she had never smelt before. As the victims from both sides fell she smelt something so powerful that it stayed in her brain until the day she died.

Fresh blood.

_Ripjaws began to softly cry out "no, no, not again, please Sea Creator, not again". The bumpy ride turned her pleasant dream, into a nightmare. A nightmare that was real._

---------------------------------

"Wow, what a view!"

Blizzard looked out at the great scenery. With the sun's last gleaming rays, light was slowly departing. Even though it was, the snow that covered the ground for miles across made it brighter than it seemed.

Blizzard breathed in the fresh air.

_I love the winter._

She bent down to pick up the Earth flag. She smiled and thought,

_This is such an easy trial! We will be back to the academy before midnight!_

As she was about to head back down the mountain slope, something caught her eye.

It was another flag.

She picked it up and examined it. It was an exact duplicate of her flag.

_Hmm…I wonder how this got here…_

A gust of wind suddenly blew the flag out of her hand. It was carried high in the air and out of sight.

_Whoops, there it goes. Oh well, I still have this one_.

Making sure this flag doesn't get away, she stuffed it deeply in her pocket.

_I bet Diamondhead somehow lost Ripjaws, well, better go find them._

With that, Blizzard made an ice sled and started traveling down the mountain.

--------------------------

As Diamondhead was prancing along, he was suddenly confronted with a large problem.

No more tracks.

Not only that, but the feces is gone too.

Diamondhead stopped. He looked around.

"Where have the tracks gone? If I can't find her then…" Diamondhead stopped, he started crying.

"Then…I will never see her again! WAHHHHHHH!"

Diamondhead sat down and started bawling. Tears with small traces of minerals in them started sliding down his smooth face.

"I'm not a good friend! I can't even take care of myself! WAHHHHHHH!"

By now Diamondhead was crying up a storm. He couldn't help it, he felt so sad on what he had done. He started feeling bad about himself and started feeling worthless.

Whenever Diamondhead gets in this mood, he usually reverts to his Yang mode. When in Yang mode he goes through a depression that is after an hour soon recovered. However, since Yang is still unconscious from using too much energy, Yin's spiritual energy came back to him very quickly.

"Don't worry now," he said to himself, "I'll find her…and when I do we will be united again! Yeah!"

The tears stopped rolling down his face. A combination of determination, stubbornness and happiness was on his face.

"Here I come Ripjaws!"

Diamondhead was about to run in a random direction but he stopped. He scratched his head and said, "The question is though…where?"

Diamondhead cried out.

"Are you awake Yang?"

No answer.

"Dang, he still is asleep. What should I do now?"

Still figuring this one out, Diamondhead leaned against a wall. The wall collapsed leaving an entrance to a large cave.

"That might be it." he said.

Diamondhead walked forward, uncertain of what he may see. The cave grew darker and darker as he got farther and farther from the exit. His eyes adjust to the continuing dimness. After walking for five minutes, he saw a bundle of blankets on the floor.

"Ripjaws!" he cried.

He ran forward to the blankets, only to find that she was not there.

"Oh my god! Where is she?"

He started looking around frantically.

"Have they already eaten her?"

He stepped forward onto the blankets.

"RIPJAWS!" he yelled.

Only the repeating echo answered him back. As the last of the echo was dimming, he heard another sound.

"Grrrrrrrrrr……"

Diamondhead turned around. There facing him were the same creatures that he fought earlier.

"Oh no! The animals have come back to eat me!"

The animals began to surround him. Diamondhead got into an odd fighting position.

"Bring it on furballs! I know karate!"

Diamondhead started to punch and kick the air to warm-up. The animals looked at him oddly.

"Hooya! I'm ready! Now prepare to be-"

An animal jumped on his back. Diamondhead was caught off surprise but he was able to quickly recover.

"Hey! Let me finish my sentence!"

Diamondhead grabbed the animal and threw it down to the floor, it whimpered.

"It's rude to interrupt!"

The animals now started to jump on top of him attempting him to bring him down by weight. Caught off again by surprise, Diamondhead was brought down quickly. The animals now were clawing at his diamond skin and biting on his hard neck.

For all good that had done, they might as well have poked him.

With this heavy weight pressing on all his sides of his body, Diamondhead could not get up.

But this is where Yin can come in handy.

With a surge of energy, Diamondhead was able to jump back upon his feet sending the creatures flying.

"HA!" he yelled.

Finally, in the midst of darkness, Diamondhead saw Ripjaws laying in the corner of the room.

"Ripjaws!"

He ran over and picked her up gently.

"I finally got you!"

He turned around, the creatures began to recover and were coming after him.

Holding her tightly to his chest he yelled out loud.

"Coming through!"

With his head bent down, he ran forward knocking the creatures down. After much running he was able to reach the entrance. He turned around and cried out like a mad Mineralist.

"See ya later you freaks!"

He jumped up and slammed the ground with his feet. Snow caved in and blocked the entrance.

"BOOYA!" he yelled.

He then did a mini-victory dance with Ripjaws still in his large arms.

Suddenly, once again he was knocked down to the ground by something heavy. He groaned to see who attacked him.

It was Blizzard. Apparently, the sled that she was on crashed into Diamondhead. His first reaction when he saw her was,

"Blizzard?"

"Diamondhead?" she said. She looked down at the still unconscious Ripjaws in his arms.

"RIPJAWS? What is she doing all the way out here?"

"Well-you see-it was….uh….perfect explanation!"

"Diamondhead." She said in growing anger.

"Hehehe…well…OH MY GOD! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

Blizzard turned around, apparently, another avalanche has started, this time because of incident when Diamondhead slammed the ground with his feet.

Without thinking, Diamondhead heaved Ripjaws to his right arm and put Blizzard onto his shoulders. With his left hand, he formed a snowboard. He jumped onto his diamond snowboard. Blizzard screamed as she went cruising down a mountain at high speeds, she held on Diamondhead with all her might.

The avalanche was crashing down the mountain, gaining speeds and destroying everything in its path.

When things couldn't get any worse, they did.

"CLIFF!"

Blizzard forced her eyes opened, they were heading towards a cliff at high speeds.

"STOP!"

"I CAN'T!"

The snowboard sled over the cliff. For awhile it hovered there motionless. The silence seemed to last for a minute, hour, day, week, year. Diamondhead was dimly aware of him falling off the snowboard with Ripjaws tumbling out of his arms. Blizzard also separated from him. They fell in silence as their bodies tossed lazily through the air.

_Foomp!_

_Foomp!_

_Foomp!_

Their land was broken by soft snow. By now, Ripjaws came to, she sat up and gave a big yawn. Her large jaw unhinged as it reached a large diameter. She smacked her lips to get rid of the odd taste in her mouth.

"Where are we?" she said.

Diamondhead sat up, snow covered his entire body.

"We're on the ground." He said.

Yang too seemed to wake up.

_Yawn. Did you get the flag?_

Diamondhead turned to Blizzard.

"Did you get the flag?"

She smiled and held it up.

"Yep!"

Diamondhead smiled sheepishly.

"Good." More to himself he said, "For once I feel tired. Why don't you take over Yang?"

Yin fell asleep.

Diamondhead closed his eyes and shook his head. He opened his eyes reaveling steel, color eyes. Smiling to himself he said.

"I love it when Yin does the dirty work."


	19. The Earth Trial: Poison and Fire

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I have been reading several mangas as of lately. I must say, they are really good! There characters are so complex and the story line are excellent. Anyway…random ramble…enjoy!

---------

The Earth flag floated lazily down the mountain. The wind carried faster than Albino's Poison. It swished, and swayed as it fell down the mountain. The brown flag was nearing the end of its journey. A final gust of wind blew it into Heatblast's arms.

Heatblast was caught off guard. He was staring at scenery when this flag landed into his arms.

"Hello…" he said, "what is this?"

He looked at the flag curiously. On it was the word "EARTH".

"Wait a sec…it's the flag! We got the flag! YES! Hey, Stinkfly!"

"What is it?"

"I got the flag!"

"You what!"

"I GOT THE FLAG!"

"I HEARD YOU YOU PERVERT!"

"WE CAN GO HOME NOW!"

"FINE! I CAN'T WAIT!"

Heatblast laughed. He was about to jump back down the cave when something caught his eye. He turned to the slopes of the mountain. His head slowly went up, tracing the mountain's height.

Then he saw it.

Coming down the mountain was a full blown gale of a wind that was thundering down the mountain. Debris and other materials were being picked up and blown apart as the wind tore down the long slope.

Heatblast looked at it curiously.

"What is that?"

BAM!

A giant log slammed into Heatblast knocking him down to the ground. Now even more hurt, Heatblast got up.

"What the hell?"

BAM!

This time a large rock crashed into Heatblast, the boulder then rolled over him and continued on crashing down the mountain. By now, Heatblast was hurting so bad, it hurt to think.

"………..Oooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwww……"

With what stamina he had left, he struggled back up. Just as he was upon his feet, the wind hit him.

At first he felt nothing, then, for the first time in his life, he felt cold. The flame on the top of his head was dwindling, going smaller and smaller. His bright orange body turned to a cool blue. His body seemed to be shrinking as the cold wind clashed against his hot body.

He fell down into a fettle position, shivering violently.

"…what is this…feeling?" he whispered with his eyes shut tight.

The wind then pushed him back into the cave, he fell down and landed with a thud. Albino's Poison roared in anguish as it lost its prey. Heatblast was spawn on the ground in a most uncomfortable position.

Pale with fear, Heatblast's mouth was open as he shivered silently.

"You didn't lose the flag did you?" said Stinkfly as she got up and started limping towards him.

Heatblast did not answer.

"Hey buttface! I'm talking to you!"

Heatblast still did not answer, his mouth was hung open and his body was still a light bluish color.

In his hand, was the flag.

Stinkfly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, you still have it."

Stinfkly began to gather her supplies.

"Well let's get going, now that we have the flag, we can forget about DCELR8 and get back to the academy."

Heatblast did not move, he laid on the cold ground, fidgeting every so often.

"Ah crud, you didn't suffer from shock did you?"

Stinkfly looked down at the helpless Heatblast. Getting a very evil thought, she began to kick Heatblast with one of her dainty legs in the side.

"This is for peeking at me when I was in the shower! This is for almost using me when I was asleep!"

After a minute of beating up Heatblast, Stinkfly stopped the bombardment.

"Phew!"

She sat down near him and made a happy sigh.

"I always wanted to do that."

She got back on her feet. She looked down at the helpless Heatblast before her.

She sighed this time an exasperated sigh.

"Come on you idiot. Let's get out of here."

She grabbed him with her two front arms. His body, instead of being blistering hot, was instead very warm. Stinkfly held him very close to her chest, her wings started buzzing loudly.

Since the fall, she was able to recover enough energy that she was able to fly again, however, one of her wings was still bent, which mean she can't fly very well at the moment.

Slowly, Stinkfly departed from the ground and began to fly upwards slowly. Her bent wing was making her climb very unsteady.

Even though she had this problem, she was able to pull herself and Heatblast out of the cavern. Luckily, Albino's Poison had stopped roaring and she was unhurt. Unluckily though, Heatblast snapped out of his shock. His body turned into a bright yellow as orange flames leapt out of his skin.

"Wha-Where am I?"

"AHHHHHHH!"

Stinkfly screamed as Heatblast's flames burned her skin and hands.

She dropped the fiery alien, but just as she had, Heatblast grabbed her broken leg.

"LET GO OF ME!" she screamed.

Heatblast, who was confused on what happened said, "NO!"

Fire licked at her leg as it seared with pain. Out of desperation, Stinkfly shot poison from her mouth and onto Heatblast's face. Heatblast roared in agony as poison seared against his face. He let go of Stinkfly's leg and fell to the ground. Just then, Stinkfly's bad wing finally stopped moving, with one wing down, Stinkfly fell to the ground too…right on top of Heatblast.

Stinkfly roared in pain as flames now are burning her back and wings. Because of the instability of the ground, Heatblast and Stinkfly weight made the ground crumble and give away. Both of them screamed as they plummet to the ground at a height of fifty feet.

_Fump!_

_Fump!_

Heatblast screamed in pain not because of the fall, but because of the deadly poison that was on his face. He threw snow onto his face in a vain attempt to get it off of him. Stinkfly screamed not because of the fall but because of all the second and third degree burns she had that covered her back. She began to roll around in the snow in a vain attempt to lessen the pain.

Needless to say, now that they are back on the ground, they are very happy that the trial is finally over.


	20. The Earth Trial: Arsenic

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** CANNON BOLT ROCKS! I got an excellent idea for him. Hehehehehehehehehe.

---------

Gray Matter still felt queasy. He didn't know why but he had an odd feeling that a wild animal licked him recently.

With his large beady eyes still shaking, he got up and looked around in the cave that he found himself in. His mind started rolling faster and faster, how did he get in here? Why did he smell like saliva? Where were his friends?

"Correction," he said suddenly, "Only Upgrade is my friend."

He wiped the sweat off of his head and yelled, "H-Hello?"

Only his echoes answered his call, and to him, they weren't that much comforting.

His slits of pupils grew wider as they adjusted to the semi-darkness, his queasy feeling was ebbing away and the urge to throw up was growing less.

Gray Matter took a deep breath and started walking forward in a general direction.

"I have no idea where I'm going but it is better than staying put!"

He laughed a nervous laugh only to be answered once again by his echo which seemed to have shut him up. Gray Matter tried to think of stuff to past the time with.

Love!

Love?

_Why love?_ Questioned Gray Matter.

A slight pause in his brain.

_Well, love is said by many organisms to be one of the greatest thing in life. It doesn't matter who you are or what you love, it is a combination of feelings such as trust, happiness, and other junk._

_But love is for wussys. I'm a scientific Cranian! And love is just some stupid emotion that can only be found in semi-intelligent creatures._

Gray Matter did a pompous snort.

_Love…who needs it?_

Without thinking, Gray Matter accidentally bumped into something, he looked up to see a large white creature looking down upon him. It gave a large snarl as it was looking at him with its…er…nostrils.

Without thinking, Gray Matter said,

"Er…good morning?"

Before he realized it, a lot more of them were surrounding Gray Matter. Gray Matter could feel the warmth that was emulating from there bodies. He saw saliva, slowly oozing downwards from there gaping jaws. Like a scared mouse, he put his hands to his chest and hunched down his head.

"Er…help?"

The nearest one to him crouched down and leapt towards him. Gray Matter screamed but just as he did so, a green/black/white blur jumped in front of him and tackled the creature.

"Upgrade!" shouted Gray Matter.

It was indeed Upgrade, after kicking the creature to the wall, he turned to him and said, "Where have you been, buddy? We were worried about you!"

"Except me," said an unpleasant voice.

Gray Matter turned around to see XLR8. Two creatures turned towards her and ran to attack her. XLR8 sniffed the air and raised her foot.

"Die furballssss."

Her left foot smashed into the creature's jaw breaking it in half, with such forces going at each other in opposite directions, the creature's body crumbled and the spinal cord snapped. XLR8 then jumped up in the air and did a drop kick on the other creature's back. It slammed to the floor and made a dying whimper.

Upgrade picked up Gray Matter and turned around to face the entrance of the cave, he started to run but was stopped by ten of Albino's Teeth.

"Oh crap," said Gray Matter.

"Not quite…Wildmutt! Four Arms!"

Out of nowhere came Wildmutt and Four Arms, with their brute force they tackled down the animals. Four Arms then picked two up at once and threw them against the wall. Wildmutt then jumped upon another one and bit on the back of the neck. The creature roared and fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Four Arms turned towards Upgrade and said, "Did somebody call us!"

Just then, another creature jumped upon his back, the claws gleamed in mid-air as it started to swipe at Four Arms. Four Arms screamed and grabbed hold of the brute by the scruff of its neck. With all his might, he slammed it down to the ground. He once again turned towards Upgrade and said, "We have to get out of here!"

Upgrade nodded and started to run. He turned his head back and yelled, "Come on XLR8!"

"Right!"

XLR8 kicked one of them in the stomach and started to run, however, since she was standing on ice, she slipped and fell onto the floor. One of the creatures saw this and started running towards her.

Gray Matter saw this and yelled, "XLR8!"

Gray Matter then jumped out of Upgrade's arms and landed on the floor. Standing as tall he could, he got out a small gun and aimed it at the running creature.

"Die, bitch."

Gray Matter fired the gun. The force of the shot made him fall backwards. The bullet did a mini scream through the air and impacted onto the creature's head. The creature stopped running. It then started making funny sounds with his mouth and all of a sudden, it started foaming in the mouth and fell to the floor. It twitched violently and then stopped moving.

XLR8 got back up and started to run again, on her way she picked up Gray Matter. While she was running she said, "What wassss in that bullet?"

"Arsenic!" said the smiling Gray Matter.

Soon, the five of them managed to get out of the cave in time. Without hesitating, Four Arms smashed the wall of the mountain with his bare hands. Rocks started to pile in the cave as the five of them backed away from the entrance. Right after that, Gray Matter made a sound of surprisement and jumped out of XLR8's arms. It was until then that XLR8 realized that she hadn't held a man in her arms for all of her life. Turning around so that the boys wouldn't see her, she blushed until her face turned purple.

Gray Matter meanwhile, found an Earth Flag in the snow.

"Hey!" he exclaimered, "look what I found!"

"It's the Earth Flag!" said an astounded Four Arms.

"Way to go Gray Matter!" said a happy Upgrade.

Wildmutt licked Gray Matter.

XLR8 turned around and faced him, donning her serious look, she said, "Well done Gray Matter. Lookssss like your not completely worthlesss after all."

Gray Matter smiled.


	21. Honey

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Finally! Out of the Earth Trial! Cannon Bolt shall make his appearance in the next chapter. Note: since I update these last two chapters so recently…you might have missed the last chapter of the Earth Trial.

---------

"_So what's the verdict on Group A?"_

"_Team A?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Hmmm…well…for Team XLR8…one was slightly sick but now he is alright. The others in that group are alright except for one that had a slight cut in her leg."_

"_Okay…and Team Diamondhead?"_

"_Hmmm…as far as I can tell…that team was one of the only teams who hardly got hurt at all. In fact, one of them looked like she was sleeping for a great period of time."_

_Snort._

"_Of course! They have Diamondhead with them! Anyways…last team?"_

"_The last team? Oh! The disorganized team…well…as far as I can tell…they did the worst. One is presumed dead, one has poison burns all over him and the other has many broken appendages and 2nd and 3rd degree burns."  
"Heh."_

"_Sir? Is it wise not to have any of them being treated? Some of the students that came back had to leave the camp because we wouldn't give them aid."_

"_I'm surprise you question the head Mineralist! This test was a test for endurance, her orders were that no one would be treated for aid until a week has past from the test. It has to prove who is strong enough to wait for the aid…or weak enough to leave for it."_

"_Sir?"_

"_What?"_

"_Did…she leave?"_

"_Who?"_

"_Uh…Stinkfly?"_

"_Pheh! She's as stubborn as a wild animal! Do you think she'll leave?"_

"_Sir…?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Our medics have examined her and said that she will soon die if she is not treated."_

"…"

"_Sir?"_

"_I'm not the one who decides her fait…she is."_

"_Er…right sir."_

-----------------------------

_Damn medics._

Stinkfly hobbled through the dense forest. Her wing was still bent and her burns hurt like crazy. Stinkfly breathed heavily as she clambered through the forest. Normally, walking in a forest would calm her down and make her feel better.

But not today.

She stopped and rested on a log, she was so tired. She laid her head upon the log, she winced however as the burns rubbed against each other. Carefully, she rolled onto her back and looked into the sky.

"Oh damn," she said to herself, "damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn."

She thought the pain would go away but instead it grew stronger. Not only that but she was beginning to feel weaker and weaker as the minutes passed by.

But suddenly she didn't feel any pain. She felt…sleepy. She didn't know why but she smelt something really alluring that was making her eyes droop. Her tense body relaxed and her wings began to sag lazily. What was that smell?

Oh yes, honey.

Stinkfly fell asleep.

-----

Stinkfly very slowly woke up. She had the dim feeling that someone was wrapping something around her right, bottom leg. She also had the feeling that someone was putting cream on her body.

Cream…

"PERVERT!" screamed Stinkfly. Her reflexes and senses suddenly went into hyper drive as she bolted upwards with a scream.

"Calm down!" said a voice.

"Get your hands off of me!" yelled Stinkfly whose eyes were still closed.

"It's alright, it's alright."

Stinkfly opened her four eyes and saw four eyes staring right back at her.

A large humanoid creature with red skin and four muscle packed arms was right by her side. Shock to see something that she did not expect to see, Stinkfly was speechless.

"I…I…I…I"

The alien smiled again, "My name is Four Arms, I'm a doctor."

Stinkfly was able to recover from the shock and was able to speak sensibly again.

"Are you a medic? Are you a professional?"

Four Arms turned around and got out a roll of bandages, he then faced her again and said, "I'm afraid not, I'm only a student in the art of healing creatures."

"Do you have a professional teacher?"

"Well…no…but-"

That was all the encouragement that Stinkfly needed.

"Get, me, out, of, HERE!"

She tried to move but couldn't, she looked down and saw that that there were straps holding her down. Stinkfly looked at the straps and her eye stalks widened. Now paranoid, she started screaming loudly.

"RAPE! RAPE! RAPE!"

"Calm down!" said Four Arms who was looking worried.

"RAPE!"

Four Arms frantically began to look for something, he then ran to a nearby desk and pulled out a jar that was full of a thick, golden liquid. He hurriedly ran back to Stinkfly and held the jar under her face. Instantly, Stinkfly began to calm down and her breathing returned to normal. After a minute Stinkfly looked at him and said, "What are you planning to do?"

Four Arms smiled.

"I plan to _heal_ you, and I certainly don't want to rape you."

He set the jar of honey next to her and took out a small machine. He then attached the machine to one of her limbs. A machine began to emit a steady beep.

Stinkfly looked at the machine and back to him.

"How can I be certain you can heal me? How do I know you won't mess up?"

Four Arms looked at the machine and said, "Pulse normal."

"Did you hear what I said?"

"I did, I did."

Four Arms turned around and once again got the bandages back out. He then walked back to the table and very carefully, began to wrap the bandages around one of her appendages. Without looking at her he said,

"Your name is Stinkfly, you come from the planet Swampus. There are many species on that planet and your kind is one of them. Your species name is _Noxious Toxist_, though outsiders normally call you "The Flys." Your type was descended from the insect family and have evolved into an intelligent species. One of the marks of showing intelligence from your species is that you have built a culture, a religion and a government."

Four Arms looked at the pulse monitor and back at his work.

"Since your species has a tough exoskeleton, hardly anyone can find out what your pulse or blood pressure is just by their hands. You need a machine that is highly sensitive that can detect the faintest blood movements within your first body."

Stinkfly was impressed but didn't show it.

"Pray to the Life Creator that I'm not your first patient."

Four Arms got done with one of the legs and moved to the next.

"No you are not, I have done this many times before and all of my patients have come out better than before."

Stinkfly relaxed.

"What was that cream you had put on my body earlier?"

"Oh that?" said Four Arms who just got done with another leg and was moving to an arm, "That was a cream to ease the pain and to increase the healing process of your burn wounds. I must say, in all my years of studying…I have never seen anything quite as serious as that."

Stinkfly thought of Heatblast and her anger swelled again.

"Calm down," said Four Arms.

"What?"

"Calm down. Whatever your thinking it is not helping your body."

He pointed a red finger towards the monitor.

"The pulse increased somewhat just now. In order for me to help you, you need to be calm."

Stinkfly coughed.

"That's easy for you to say."

"Flip over."

"What?"

"Flip over. I got to repair your wing."

Stinkfly looked at her just bandaged arms and legs and agreed. Carefully, she flipped her dainty body over so that she was laying on her stomach. Four Arms then took some odd instruments and began to operate her wings. Eager to pass the time, Stinkfly said,

"So I take it it was you who set the honey out for me."

"Yes, as a matter of fact. When I saw you stumbling around in the forest I knew you were wounded. I knew that you needed to be treated right away, so I got Wildmutt-"

"Wildmutt?" she interrupted.

"Yes, Wildmutt. My faithful pet who has one of the sharpest noses around. Anyways…I got him to get some honey to knock you out. Honey is suppose to be a soothing drug for your kind. It is also advised that some should be near a patient in case they are in an operation."

As the conversation moved along, Stinkfly grew more and more impressed of this young doctor. She couldn't help it that he was doing a fine job patching her up. All the while…he was still a male and he could be asking for sex in the end.

PING!

Four Arms stopped. He turned around and headed to another different kind of machine. He began to look at the monitor up and down and side to side. After 45 seconds he said, "Well _that's_ a sticky wicket."

"What is?"

Four Arms turned around and face her.

"Seems you have a deadly disease."

"WHAT!"

"Yes…but not to worry…it can be taken care of with a vaccine."

"Oh good."

"Trouble is…it's going to be a shot."

"WHAT!"

"And this all of your body is protected by that exoskeleton…I'm afraid it will have to be in the mouth."

"WHAT!"

Stinkfly tried with all her might to get out of the stretcher, however, the straps were holding her down tight.

"Not to worry!" said Four Arms getting out a large shot, "This won't hurt a bit!"

He approached Stinkfly slowly with the shot in one of his hands.

"You better not…!"

"Afraid so…however…I'll use the honey to calm you down!"

Four Arms grabbed the honey jar and set it up next to Stinkfly. Instantly, Stinkfly began to calm down and feel very sleepy. She was dimly aware of the fact that her mouth was getting a shot. In the background she heard Four Arms' voice.

"That's a good girl."

_I am a good girl. I'm such a pretty girl!_

However, this girly feeling went away as Four Arms took the honey away. Instantly, pain seared into her mouth like a wild fire. Stinkfly screamed in agony as she tried to get out of the stretcher.

"Now," said Four Arms who was taking off his gloves, "I want you to make sure you don't over use the wings. I also want you to get plenty of sleep and to drink lots of water."

After Stinkfly stopped screaming, Four Arms unbuckled the straps and Stinkfly got up slowly. She looked at him straight in the eye and said, "Since you saved my life and saved me a great amount of pain. I will not spit acid all over your face."

She turned around and got off the table, before taking off she said, "However, if you try to seduce me next time…I'll kick your ass so high up you'll have to take off your shirt in order to take a shit. Good day."

Stinkfly then flew off into the forest. Four Arms breathed a heavy sigh of relief and sat down on a chair. With a queasy laugh he thought,

_My first patient._


	22. Cannon Bolt

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Hm. I liked that last chapter. Anyway, here is Cannon Bolt!

---------

It's raining.

Heatblast pressed his face against the window and looked outside. Rain. Formed by condensed water molecules that have stayed in the clouds too long. The water droplets become to heavy and therefore fall.

Or something like that.

Heatblast stepped back from the window, leaving a typical smear that he always does on windows when he presses his face up against them.

Heatblast didn't mind the rain, sure it was water and that was a nuisance to him sometimes but it didn't kill him. It was just that rain turns him into a sour mood.

Heatblast looked back outside to see the rain.

"_But daddy! I don't like the rain!"_

"_Now Heatblast, is that a kind way to treat your dream?"_

"_Yes," said a mother like voice, "to be a Meteorologist is a big responsibility and a big goal. You must take risks and overcome your fears when you are dealing with the forces of nature."_

"_No! I do like the rain, I do like the rain. It's just that…it hurts me."_

_She smiled, "Follow your dream dear and no one will hurt you."_

Heatblast shook his head. He looked around the room and got out an umbrella. He grabbed his fire proof materials and headed to outside.

--------------------------------

In a small classroom at the outskirts of the camp, XLR8 sat in her desk eagerly. She had so much energy that she had to get out of her desk and run around the room several times. She then sat back down with a big grin on her face. She checked the clock again for the 18th time.

7:00.

XLR8 turned her head to the front and said to herself, "only thirty minutes to go!"

She was referring to the fact that the camp was getting a new teacher. Rumors had it that the teacher was one of the greatest fighters in the galaxy. It is also said that the teacher personally trained Vilgax and other high officials. His fame is so popular, that generals go across the galaxy to ask for his advice.

Now he is going to teach here.

XLR8 began to tremble violently. She can't wait to be teach by such an important figure. She got here an hour early just to be on time.

The door opened.

XLR8 turned her head so fast that it made several popping sounds.

It was Upgrade.

"Oh…" she said showing one of her serious faces, "It'sssss you."

Upgrade was used to this by now and said, "and good morning to you too."  
Upgrade twisted his liquid like neck around to see where the seating chart was. He spotted it on a wall near the window and walked to it. With his single eye, he located himself near the middle of the classroom. He heaved his backpack over and plopped it down on the aisle. He once again, looked around and sat in it.

The door opened again.

XLR8 once again turned her head to the door so fast it popped.

However, it was Blizzard.

XLR8 groaned as Blizzard walked into the room.

"Uh…excuse me? Is this the room where Mr. Bolt will be teaching?"

XLR8 said nothing, however, Upgrade said, "It tis, it tis."

Blizzard smiled to him and walked by the window to check the seating chart. She located it and walked near the middle of the classroom and sat right next Upgrade. Neither of them looked at each other. Occasionally though, Blizzard would peer out of the corner of her eye to see what he was doing.

Upgrade looked bored, it was sort of apparent by the way he was twiddling his fat, smooth like fingers. His head was down and his eye was looking at the floor.

Blizzard looked back to the front and thought, _Interesting…_

A few more aliens came in, all of them had that tired look written all over their faces. XLR8 deemed them unimportant as each of them walked into the classroom.

However, the last two caught her eye.

One of them was Diamondhead, he walked in with a serious expression planted on his face, he walked to the back of the room, checked the seating chart, and walked back to the front. He then sat down to the left of XLR8. Diamondhead got out a book and started reading it.

Inside her mind XLR8 was thinking _YES! YES! YES! YES!_

The last person to walk in was Heatblast, XLR8 made a face when she found out that _he_ had to sit to her right.

The class started chatting loudly once everyone got in. Soon, the class was bustling with noise of students who were talking about whose dating who, whose hot and who was getting what in their classes. Heatblast was talking to one of his alien buddies that was sitting behind him. The only people in the class who were not talking were Blizzard, Upgrade, Diamond Head and XLR8.

_Ding Dong!_

The class stopped talking, that was the school bell. Which means that class has started…however, the teacher is not here yet. XLR8 started to worry that maybe he couldn't show up, maybe he was sick or dying or…something!

After a minute of total silence…they started to hear something.

_Boom…boom…click!_

_Boom…boom…click!_

_Boom…boom…click!_

Something was coming down the hallway, something big. XLR8 then realized that the new professor was now, walking down the hallway to the classroom.

The sound stopped.

The doorknob jiggled and then it opened.

There, walking into the classroom was an Arburian Pelarota. He was wearing a large suit that fitted him snuggly, and he was wearing some dainty spectacles that were strapped to his rather large head. He had a large top hate and he was carrying a cane in one of his hands. When he closed the door, he turned to the class and said, "Good morning class."

No answer. He turned to the class and said, "I said…good morning class."

"Good morning Mr. Bolt." Said the class in unison.

"Very good, very good. But please refrain from calling me that, please address me as either Cannon Bolt or Sir."

The class replied with a hodgepodge of mixed words that sounded like "Yes, Cannon Bolt," "Yes, Mr. Bolt," "Yes, Sir," and "Yes, Mr. Fatso."

Cannon Bolt sighed and shook his head. He put his hat onto a coat hanger and turned his back to the classroom and headed to the front, he then started to mumble to himself.

"I swear, I told them that I will teach after the Water Trial and what do they do? They give me a low pay check and a class full of stupid students."

Cannon Bolt sat down on his large chair and started writing on the desk. Every so often, he would mumble to himself about how his life was in the pits and that he needed to find a better job. The class didn't know what to do except be silent. However, XLR8 raised her hand and said, "Ssssssir?"

Cannon Bolt raised his head and focused his eyes on XLR8.

"Please stand," said Cannon Bolt.

XLR8 did so.

"Name?"

"XLR8."

"Group?"

"Group A…Sssssir."

"And what is your question…er…what was your name again?"

"XLR8, and my question wassss…aren't you ssssupose to be teaching ussss?"

Cannon Bolt looked at her and said, "What is the name of this class?"

"Errr…Philosophy Ssssssir."

Cannon Bolt stood up so fast it was alarming.

"Philosophy! Good God! I can't teach Philosophy! Out of all the classes, why did those numbskulls put me in Philosophy?"

Cannon Bolt fell back down into his chair with a large _Fump!_ He then took out a large handkerchief and started to dry his head with it.

Cannon Bolt looked up to the startled classroom, he once again gave a great big sigh and waved his teddy bear like hand in the air.

"Well…I presume you have your books…start reading."

The students looked at each other and then to their books. Slowly, they got each of them out and started studying on the first chapter. After fifteen minutes, Heatblast turned around to his buddy behind him and started to whisper to him. It was a quiet conversation but after five minutes it got so large and heated that the whole class could hear them.

Finally, the alien said, "You can't beat me even if I was blindfolded!"

Heatblast responded this with, "AH! Go piss up a rope you freaking green man!"

"Care to repeat what you just said Mr. Heatblast?" said a deep voice.

Heatblast looked up and was startled to see Cannon Bolt looking down at him with those large eyes. Heatblast was astonished that such a big figure could sneak up on him without even he noticing. However, Heatblast quickly responded to him by saying, "I SAID: GO PISS UP A ROPE YOU FREAKING GREEN MAN!"

Cannon Bolt reacted to this so fast it was shocking, he quickly picked him up and raised him to his eye level. Quietly, Cannon Bolt said, "Make sure to come back inside when you are done playing in the rain. And also…may I speak with you after class?"

What Cannon Bolt did next would go down in camp history as one of the most coolest things ever to happen.

Cannon Bolt grabbed Heatblast with both of his hands, he then started to twirl him in midair at blinding speeds. After five seconds, Cannon Bolt released Heatblast and Heatblast went soaring through the classroom, through the window, into the rain and smacked dab into a tree. In response to this, the tree caught on fire and fell down onto the now knocked out Heatblast.

Cannon Bolt turned around and headed back to his desk. He sat back down and started working again on his papers. All of the student's jaws were open to their fullest extent.

After fifteen minutes, Cannon Bolt looked outside to see that Heatblast was still there unconscious. Cannon Bolt once again did a great big sigh and turned towards XLR8.

"Young female student…what was your name again?"

"X-XLR8."

"Yes, well, XLR8, can you please go to the medics and tell them a student is hurt? I want them to patch him up as soon as possible and back into this classroom in twenty minutes."

XLR8 nodded and left the room.

Cannon Bolt returned to his work once again. All the while, he kept saying this,

"They don't pay me enough here."


	23. The Tickeling Bullet

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I vote that Cannon Bolt is the most huggable out of all the aliens. He is described on wikipedia as an alien that looks like a teddy bear. And you know what…? He is!

---------

The classes at this camp are boring, all of them. Whenever Gray Matter was enrolled into a new class, he was able to finish the book in less than a month while the students are still on chapter five. Let's face it, he hated his classes because they were boring.

Except sharpshooting class.

Gray Matter aimed his pistol again and fired. The bullet zoomed through the air and missed the target.

"Oooooh. Tough shot!" said the teacher, "you sure you don't want me to make the target closer?"

"I'm sure professor! All I have to do is calculate the angle, the height, where I'm aiming at and the wind resistance of the bullet."

"Err…right…well..carry on!"

Gray Matter smiled and continued to practice his shooting.

Nothing arouses his mind like a good challenge. And believe me, shooting was it. Gray Matter was having a wonderful time. In all of his years in his life he has never done anything that he was having this much fun at. Sometimes, when they were not shooting, the class made bullets that they themselves would shoot. Gray Matter at first was bad at it, but after awhile, he got the hang of it and soon, he was making many bullets in no time.

Already, Gray Matter made the Arsenic Bullet, which the professor found very impressive. Today he made a new kind of bullet.

Gray Matter stood on his table and held it up in the air, "I call it…the Sleeping Bullet!"

The students oohed and awed over such a magnificent creation.

"This bullet is able to knock down a 6 foot alien into a sleeping coma for 45 minutes. I know, I know, I am the best."

The Professor went up to him and congratulated him.

"Great job Gray Matter! By the end of this semester…you'll have an A!"

"Please Professor," said a much humbled Crainian, "I _always_ get an A+."

-----------

After class, Gray Matter happily strutted down the walkway of the campus. With a smug look in his eye, he felt like he was on top of the world.

"Soon…aliens from _all_ over the galaxy will come and see my inventions. I'll be a multi-million-no…a multi-_billionaire_. I'll be selling my weapons and I'll live in a great three story tall mansion. I'll be a rich Gray Matter! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

A shadow loomed over him. Gray Matter stopped laughing and looked up to see who it was. Three, seven foot aliens were looking down at him, each of them looking as mean as they possibly can. They were baring their teeth and cracking their knuckles and they were looking at the pint sized alien. Immediately, Gray Matter's cockiness disappeared.

"Er…good day…er…gentlemen," he said.

"Well look who it is," said one.

"It's the smart ass alien."

"Why don't we teach him how to teach football?"

Gray Matter gulped but reached for his gun. He held it up and was aiming at them, however, the gun was shaking hard due to Gray Matter's being afraid.

When the aliens saw the mini-gun they just laughed.

"HAHA! Will you look at that!"

"That's not a gun…that's a water gun!"

"What's it going to do…? Shoot water at me?"

The three of them laughed even harder. Gray Matter now felt stupid and afraid. Now ashamed that he was insulted, he stood his ground even harder.

"L-Look…I want you…to get out of my way…_now._"

"Or what? You'll shoot me? Go ahead try it! I bet you can't!"

Suddenly the air grew colder, it seemed as if the light from the sun was dimming. Gray Matter got the feeling that all this time, he was being watched. Then a cold voice rang out across ground ears.

"_He doesn't want to waste his bullets on a couple of bullies such as yourselves. He doesn't want to hurt a couple of weaklings such as yourselves."_

All four of them turned around, there, floating beside them, was Ghostfreak. Her single eye contracted as she looked at each of the three aliens. Then, her eye focused on Gray Matter. She waved a purple hand in the air and said, _"Hello Gray Matter! How you doing?"_

"Uh…fine! I'm doing just fine, thank you for asking Ghostfreak…"

Ghostfreak's eye swiveled back to the three bully aliens. They gulped as the three of them saw Ghostfreak's lifeless, naked body. Ghostfreak then started to float around them, while doing so, she was talking.

"_Why do bullies harm aliens that are smaller then themselves? Is it because they think they're cool and that they can show it by beating up the weak? Is it because they think it is funny? Or…"_ she stopped floating around them and faced them directly, _"Is it because they want to be feared?"_

The tall aliens were scared but didn't move, they couldn't move, even if they did their legs wouldn't allow it. Slowly, Ghostfreak raised her purple arms and put her hands through two of them. Instantly, the two aliens turned very pale. Their eyes went to the back of their skull, and their whole body was quivering. She then pulled her arms out of their bodies. The two of them collapsed to the ground. Ghostfreak then turned around and looked down at Gray Matter.

"_We showed them didn't-"_

"Look out!" cried Gray Matter. He raised his gun again and fired. The bullet went right through Ghostfreak and into the alien who was about to fire a gun on her. The alien fell down asleep. Ghostfreak swiveled her eye backward and then forward again. She looked at her stomach which the bullet went through and said, _"Hehe. That tickled."_

Gray Matter, who was now getting use to the presence of Ghostfreak, said, "We showed them _now_…didn't we?"

Ghostfreak looked at him, she then said, _"Can I call you Matthew?"_

Gray Matter thought about it for a second and said, "Yeah, sure. Can I call you Penelope?"

Without hesitating, Ghostfreak said, _"It's a deal, Matthew."_

Gray Matter was once again happy. Not only has he made a new friend…but a new body guard.

"Well…shall we go to the cafeteria to eat?"

"_YES! I'm in the mood for some vanilla ice cream!"_

Gray Matter laughed, he motioned for her to float ahead of him and she obliged. "Penelope," he said while walking behind her, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."


	24. Differences

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** May I remind the public that Ripjaws has a magical orb that keeps her hydrated even on land.

---------

Ripjaws looked at the large lake that she was sitting next to. Whenever she wanted to get away from the world and be by herself she usually went here. She looked up from the lake to peer at the large trees that were surrounding it, their reaching branches and large leaves would act as an umbrella for her. Shading her from the harsh sun and making her body cool and moist.

Today though, she was not alone. She was with somebody who was right now in the lake looking for fish. She waited for that somebody to come back up.

"Well, well, well," said a female voice from the trees, "What do we have here?"

Ripjaws was so startled that she felt like she jumped five feet in the air. She looked up to see who it was.

It was Stinkfly.

Stinkfly flew downwards towards her, Ripjaws got into a fighting position in case she attacked her.

But she didn't.

Instead, Stinkfly stopped near the water and put her hands in it, she then splashed some water on her face and then turned towards her.

"I do not intend in hurting you. So you may drop your stance."

Ripjaws looked at her and slowly did so. Ripjaws then said, "What _do_ you intend to do?"

"Simple my Crocodilian friend," said Stinkfly who was only six feet from her, "I came here to ask you a question."

"A question?"

"Yes, who came to you and your village and what did he look like?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You know, the alien who came to your village for you to sign up in joining this training camp."

"Oh…well…I forgot the name of him but he was blue and had four eyes coming out of his head. He was quite fat too. Seemed to be very eager when he wanted some of us to sign up."

Stinkfly made an annoyed face, "Let me guess, something about if you join this training camp, you will be able to defeat the Flys?"

Ripjaws began to nod her head slowly, "Pretty much. You too?"

"Yeah, only this time instead of 'Flys' it was 'Crocodilians'."

Stinkfly sat down on the sandy beach and then patted her hand on the ground.

"Sit down."

Ripjaws sat down though she was still weary of what Stinkfly might do.

"What's your name?"

"Ripjaws, and yours?"

"Stinkfly."

The two females said nothing to each other for five minutes. Sometimes they would peer out of the corner of their eye to see what the other one was doing. Ripjaws noticed that she had a bandaged over one of her arms, the rest of her body remained uncovered. Stinkfly seemed to be in deep concentration because she had a complex look on her face. Finally, Ripjaws said, "Tell me, why don't you spray acid all over my face?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well…the elders at my village said that Flys would try to deceive you the first chance they get. Also, if your alone with them, they will kill you on the spot and eat your face off."

Stinkfly laughed so hard that she felt like one of her lungs was about to burst.

"What so funny?" said Ripjaws in her gargly voice.

Wiping off the tears that were running down her face, Stinkfly said, "First off, it is in our code of religion never to lie or to deceive anybody. And second, we would _never_ eat anything that was an intelligent species! It's just not us!"

Ripjaws laughed.

"Yeah, I guess that sounds sort of stupid the more I think about it."

Both of them laughed again. Stinkfly looked around and said, "Well that's all I wanted to say. See you later!"

Ripjaws waved goodbye to her as she flew off.

_You know what? They aren't so bad after all. If only we weren't at war with them…_

"Whatcha thinking about?" said a voice right behind her.

For the second time that day, Ripjaws jumped about five feet in the air. She turned around to see Heatblast looking right at her. He had his hands on his waist and his head was cocked to the side. He was giving her a sly look while he was standing there.

Instantly, Ripjaws grew nervous.

"Oh! Heatblast! I-I-I mean…Hello! Nice day out isn't-no…wait. You must be Heatblast! I recognized you because I have always seen you from a distance-no wait! I'm not a stalker! I mean…"

Ripjaws took a deep breath and said, "How are you doing Heatblast?"

Heatblast felt highly amused, Ripjaws was stumbling on her words and was hitting herself every time she said something odd. Not wanting to break his cool, Heatblast said, "I'm fine Ripjaws and how about you?"

Ripjaws could hardly keep her excitement down.

_He knows my name! HE KNOWS MY NAME! HEATBLAST KNOWS MY NAME!_

Ripjaws wanted to scream this so badly but she knew she had to keep her cool. Her pounding heart was making it impossible to stay calm. She wanted to do…_something!_

Making sure her voice wasn't shaking, Ripjaws said, "I'm doing just fine too."

Suddenly, the water from the lake began to ripple. Then, splashing out of the water, was another Crocodilian. He was taller than Ripjaws or Heatblast and he was more muscular too. Heatblast was as surprised to see him as he was to him too. He gave Heatblast an odd look and turned to Ripjaws.

"Ripjaws, who is that fire like alien?"

Heatblast was annoyed that he was referred to as "Fire like alien."

Ripjaws quickly bowed to the male Crocodilian and said, "That is Heatblast, Cuttooth."

She then turned to Heatblast and bowed to him, "Heatblast…this is Cuttooth, my soon to be husband."

Heatblast's jaw drop.

"Husband?"

"Yes, husband," said Cuttooth who quickly grabbed Ripjaws and pulled her to his side, "that aint bothering you right? I mean…you _are_ a different species from her, so you shouldn't care about the world for her."

Ripjaws was showing a sad look on her face and was trying to push herself away from him.

"Seems to me," said Heatblast observing Ripjaws, "that she doesn't like the idea of being married to you."

An odd, red glare flashed in Cuttooth's eyes. He then said, "Of course she likes it! She does like it and she'll love it even more once we're married."

An odd expression came onto Cuttooth's face. He then turned to Ripjaws and ignored Heatblast like he wasn't even there.

"Hey honey, why were you talking to a _Fly_? Those creatures are dangerous and can eat you the first chance they get!"

Ripjaws said nothing and looked away from him. Still in his grasp, she started to squirm to get away from him.

"They're not dangerous," said Ripjaws in a very quiet voice.

"HAHA! Get a load of her!" said Cuttooth who was now talking to Heatblast and pointing to her at the same time, "she doesn't know what she's talking about! I tell you, the female of any species must be ruled over by the male half. Otherwise she can go haywire and probably do dangerous stuff. Am I right?"

Heatblast was looking at Cuttooth with a calm expression, he then said, "I'm afraid there are more differences between ourselves than our looks Cuttooth."

Cuttooth shrugged.

"Oh well. Hey honey! I caught a load of fish down here! Let's eat lunch together!"

Cuttooth then dived back into the lake. Ripjaws had a full sad expression on her face, she briefly looked at Heatblast and then, she too dived in.

After a few minutes of looking at the lake and biting his tongue, Heatblast thought,

_This bet is going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be._


	25. Do I have a heart?

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I wonder how long girls brush their hair?

By the way, I'm going to camp on Sunday. I'll be there for a week so I'm going to see if I can squeeze one more chapter in before I leave.

---------

The popularity of Cannon Bolt grew suddenly gigantic ever since the first day. Students loved him so much that they signed up to take Philosophy because that was the only class he was teaching. Needless to say, when Cannon Bolt heard that he was teaching five straight classes in a roll about Philosophy he blew his top. Rumors had it that he went straight to the head Mineralist and demand a full raise in his pay check otherwise he would quit. Some aliens confirmed this by saying he and the head Mineralist's arguments were so loud, that they were keeping them up all night. On the second day of his arrival, he wasn't in class. However, on the third day and out, he taught (or as the students said, sit and tell war stories whenever he was bored) the students Philosophy.

--------

On the fourth floor of the Girls Dormitory lies a room that are just like all the other rooms in the building. The room's number was 4G, and this was the place where Blizzard and her roommate slept at when the sun sets and their eyes got droopy.

Okay, I lied, only Blizzard slept there.

Ever since the Earth Trial happened, some of the girls in the dormitory never have came back and some left right after the Earth Trial to their home. To Blizzard, it was quite pleasing to have a room all by herself.

For one thing, she could hog the mirror whenever she wanted.

Like she was doing right now.

"148…149…150!"

Blizzard put the comb in the other hand and switched sides to the other side of her head. Then, she started combing her icy blue hair on that side.

"1…2…3…"

In the past, her roommate that Blizzard would spend to much time putting on make-up. But what did she know? She was ugly.

Blizzard smiled.

"23…24…25…"

She had to make herself look beautiful in order to please the public, why, if she didn't…she would be a shame!

"35…36…37…"

However, whether she looked gorgeous or not didn't really matter for the males. All the males were entranced by the mere image in which she walks in. With a snap of her fingers, she could have a male deliver her chocolates…money…homework…anything! The girls said she was an Ice Queen for stealing their boyfriends and turning them inside out. Yeah, she was an Ice Queen, but she didn't have a choice whether she wanted to be one or not.

"132…133…134…"

_But there was that one fellow._

Blizzard stopped combing her hair, she rested her hand on her lap and started thinking. Yes, there was that one male who could resist her charm. The only male that has done that was Diamondhead and he doesn't really count. No, this male completely blocked out her superiority over him. It was like he had some sort of barrier between himself and her. What was his name again?

Oh yes, Upgrade.

She didn't know why he didn't fall for her. Oh well, one boy is just one boy.

Blizzard placed her comb back towards her hair and was about to start combing again when she stopped.

"Now what number was I at again? Hmmm….oh well! No biggie! I'll just start all over! 1…2…3…"

------------------

Upgrade couldn't wait to be in Cannon Bolt's classroom again. In all his ages of living, he never had experienced quite a fun teacher. He was walking happily down the campus with his Philosophy book in hand towards Cannon Bolt's building.

"Uh…Upgrade?"

Upgrade turned around to see a female alien looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Could you please help me with my math homework? I mean…you _are_ in my math class and you seem _sooooo_ smart."

Upgrade, with his ever bountiful happiness, said, "Sure! What do you need help on?"

After ten minutes of helping the alien in math Upgrade looked at his clock and said to her, "Well, that's all I can help you with…does that explain everything?"

"Oh yes!" said the relieved alien, "It does! Thank you Upgrade, you are so kind"

Upgrade suddenly tripped over a log, he quickly got back up and turned towards her. He nodded his head, "Your welcome."

He gave the alien a nod and waved goodbye.

While he was walking his mind started rolling again.

_Hmph, kindness. That is still a question right there and then. Do I even have kindness? It's hard to say the way I was built. My creator, blast her living soul, always had to make one of her creations unique didn't she? When she made me, she didn't even tell my if I had emotion or not. When I asked her, she just gave me a wink and said you'll find out. Hmph._

After walking for about 15 minutes, Upgrade finally arrived at the building. He looked around, opened the door, and walked in.

Not too far away, Blizzard was also traveling down the same path that Upgrade took.

With her finely combed hair, she walked gracefully down the path with a cool smile on her face. Just then, a regular height male alien with grayish skin approached her.

"Good morning Princess Blizzard! May I carry your books?"

"Certainly. Thank you."

She gave the books to the smiling the alien.

"Oh your very welcome Princess Blizzard! My…your looking very lovely today!"

"Thank you."

Just then, another male alien of the same species approached them.

"Hey man! What are you doing messing with my girlfriend?"

"Your girlfriend? She's _my_ girlfriend."

"No she isn't! Queen Blizzard…may I please carry your books?"

Blizzard placed her finger on her lips and said, "How about this? Why don't you carry my books to the school. And _you_ can carry them back to my dorm!"

The two aliens nodded vigorously.

"Anything you say!" they both said together.

Blizzard smiled.

-------------------

It should be noted before we continue on with our story, that we must explain something about Blizzard and her species. On her home planet, and Diamondhead's as well, the Icetopes have evolved a certain aroma. Now, this aroma is only found in single status Icetopes. What this aroma does is that it tries to seduce the opposite sex into loving that single Icetope. The aroma does not work on the same sex. Once the single status Icetope has found its soul mate, the aroma switches off and does not work anymore. To avoid cross-species breeding, Diamondhead and his kind evolved a smelling barrier so that the aroma will not affect them.

However, when Blizzard had move to another planet, all single male species were seduced by this aroma by a much larger scale since they couldn't handle that large of quantity of "love aroma."

The result?

Relationships are blown apart such as friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, gayfriends, you name it. Hence, this is why Blizzard is hated by much of the females on the campus. This is also why Blizzard cherishes her friends Diamondhead and Ripjaws so much. Diamondhead is not affected by the aroma and Ripjaws hates her soon to be husband.

With that said, let's continue on with the story.

------------------------

Class has started in Cannon Bolt's classroom. The students were as usual, studying in their Philosophy textbooks. Ever since the tree incident with Cannon Bolt, Heatblast has been on good behavior and he hasn't talked in the classroom since the first day of Cannon Bolt's arrival. Cannon Bolt was as usual, writing on some important documents and sighing occasionally. The only sound that could be heard in the class room was the scribbling of pencils and the sighing from you-know-who. After fifteen minutes, XLR8 got out of her desk and approached Cannon Bolt with her text book in her hands.

"Ssssssir?"

Cannon Bolt looked up, "Yes, what is it…uh…"

"XLR8 ssssir. I have a question about the textbook and it involves page twenty-"

Cannon Bolt held up a large hand.

"Please stop student, I have said it before and I will say it again, I don't know a thing about Philosophy. Why don't you ask Diamondhead?"

"M-Me? Ask Diamondhead?"

"Yeah sure, that is not a problem is it?"

"No sir!" said XLR8 quickly, "Not a problem!"

"Good."

XLR8 quickly bowed and got back to her desk. She nervously looked at Diamondhead and said, "Uh…Diamondhead…? I wassss wondering if you could…"

Her eyes met the cold steel gray eyes of Diamondhead. Diamondhead looked at her with an odd expression. XLR8's voice gradually soften.

"…help…me…with my homework?"

Diamondhead looked at her and said, "Yeah, sure."

"Oh thank you!"

Meanwhile, at the front of the classroom where Cannon Bolt sat, Cannon Bolt was restless. After XLR8 disturbed him of his concentration, he couldn't work anymore. Instead, he got out a rather large, colorful quilt out of his desk. He adjusted his spectacles and took out some knitting needles. He then began knitting on the rather large quilt with his rounded hands. Heatblast saw this and said, "Sir?"

Cannon Bolt looked at Heatblast and said, "Yes, Heatblast what is it?"

Heatblast looked at the quilt that Cannon Bolt was currently knitting. Cannon Bolt followed Heatblast's eyes and got the question.

"Well, if you must know Heatblast. This quilt is going to be a peace keeper's item."

"A peace keeper?"

"Yes, a peace keeper's item. Right now, my planet is having some rough negotiations with the people of the another planet in our solar system. I was the ambassador there last year. The people liked me so much that they gave me a small task. They told me that if I made a quilt that signified happiness and unity, that they will be our allies and friends for a long time. All I have to say is, that I'm glad I took knitting class."

Meanwhile, farther back in the class, Upgrade and Blizzard were busy taking notes out of their books. After awhile, Blizzard's pencil got too dull. She turned her body towards Upgrade and said, "Upgrade, will you be a dear and sharpen my pencil?"

Without looking up, Upgrade said, "I'm sorry, can you please do it? I don't want to break my concentration with my notes."

Blizzard was shock that she was just denied a command by a male.

"Upgrade!" she said getting very annoyed, "Can you _please_ sharpen my pencil?"

"I would love to Blizzard, but right now…I'm in the middle of something very important."

"I'll sharpen it for you Princess Blizzard," said the alien next to Blizzard.

"Shut up," she said.

Blizzard was now getting very angry.

"How can taking notes be more important than my needs?"

"How can me sharpening your pencil be more important than my gaining of knowledge."

"It's just a pencil!"

"Exactly!" said an angry Upgrade who threw down his pencil, "It's just a pencil! I don't see why you can't do it yourself! Honestly! Do you think you own the world or something?"

The class by now were turning their heads to see the fighting pair. Some of them were actually impressed that a male was standing up to Blizzard.

Blizzard got up so fast that her desk fell over, the rage that was pulsating out of her had an affect on her powers. The room got colder and colder, as frost formed on the windows. As the aliens breathed, they could see their own breaths. The more that Blizzard's rage grew, the colder it got.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? You and your electronic equipment that keeps your dead body alive! How _dare _you speak that way to someone who is alive and doesn't need electricity to keep himself going! Why, you have no kindness! No feeling, no emotion! You can't even do something as so kind as to sharpen something as small as a pencil!"

Upgrade got up slowly, he was half a foot taller than her and therefore had the height advantage. Blizzard was caught off guard for a brief moment but nonetheless, continued.

"Look at you! The way you are _staring_ at me with that expressionless face! No one can tell anything from you! How you feel, how you think! Why don't you do anything about it?"

Upgrade was very quiet and didn't say anything. The single round eye that he had was pinpointed exactly onto Blizzard. With a twist of his neck and back to his desk he said, "You have no heart."

Blizzard was stunned. Her anger was falling downwards at a rapid decline.

"…Heart?"

The roomer got back to being warmer and the frost disappeared from the windows. Cannon Bolt was the first to say something.

"Speaking of hearts Miss. Blizzard, I haven't the heart to tell you this, but if you keep up your attitude like this, you'll be in detention."

Dumbly, Blizzard shook her head and said, "Yes, sir."

Cannon Bolt returned to his knitting and Blizzard turned over her desk again.

She sat back down and tried to get back to work but she couldn't. Not after what happened. Heart? That was a matter of question right there and then.

At the same time both Upgrade and Blizzard thought,

_Do I have a heart?_


	26. Important Update

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** And now for an update.

---------

Hello folks. Normally, I don't really think it is a good idea to break a story with a random update but I think I'll let this one slide just this once.

I just came back from my camping trip and I haven't seen the two newest episodes of Ben 10 yet. Though I will see Camp Fear tomorrow night.

I have a problem though.

Though it is small to see, I betting it will grow to a monstrous size.

My story isn't collaborating with the facts.

Already my species names are not the same as the ones mentioned on wikipedia.

Not to mention I got Stinkfly's planet wrong.

I read up to date about the two episodes and I'm starting to worry.

If this keeps up, soon, my story will not even have any fact to it.

Let's face it, do you really think that Diamondhead was bipolar and Four Arms was a prince and wanted to be a doctor.

Basically, some of the characters that I have put life into…don't seem to be what everyone thought of them at first.

Ripjaws being a gril? Who knew?

My story was already rebelling against the story as some early reviewers put it. The main one was making some of the aliens girls and not guys. That really questioned some people.

My story though interesting, is going to fall apart.

I mean, if they keep adding aliens, how will I get to explain every detail about them? It will take so long!

At this point of the story, I say…we are around at the half way point. As you can see…it is going to be awhile before the story finishes.

I'm worried that future readers will read this story and say, "Hey! That is not how it is in the series!"

With this story, facts will be twisted and real things won't be there.

And so I come to a standstill.

Delete my story?

Or continue on?

Deleting my story will save the trouble of no one seeing this. Deleting it will make it so that the lie was never there.

If I continue on, how will I deal with the growing aliens and the increasing amount of facts about the Omnitrix?

Delete or continue?


	27. Flowers

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** heheheheee. Wildvine, I'll make your life hell.

Damn. This chapter is long. I hope you all don't mind freaking long chapters. I also want to thank TwoFeet for giving me the idea for this chapter.

---------

It was a week before the Water Trial and the students were excited. Of course, they were excited before the Earth and Forest Trial, but this is different. For more than a year, the students were always in small groups ranging from two to at max five. The reason why they were separated in such small groups was that the academy wanted to eliminate the weak. Those who can't survive in small groups, dies in small groups. But anyways…never have they even gotten to see their full team or know who _is_ on their team. Such rumors were flying around all over the place about who is with who. One female alien was devastated and almost killed herself when she heard the rumor that she might be paired up with a slobbering dog.

Yes, truly everyone was excited.

Except for one student.

That student didn't have time for rumors. He didn't have time to listen to the gossip or to socialize with anyone. He just wanted to be by himself.

And he was doing a good job…well…sort of.

On the outskirts of the campus, lies one of the female dormitories. This female dorm was your plain, regular dorm. It was a two story building that had enough room to hold forty students and had an exceedingly plain floor. Nothing special with this dorm right?

Sort of.

It just so happens that this female dorm holds _thirty-nine _female aliens, and one male alien. That male alien student, who the female students considered him as one of their own, gets his own room for obvious reasons. His room is on the first floor at the end of the hallway near the entrance. It wasn't the room that made him special, but the student himself.

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Diamondhead looked up. He was sitting at his desk, busily writing at his homework and studying his text book. He hated it when someone disturbed him of his studying, it broke his concentration. He wanted absolute quiet whenever he was studying and if he didn't have this, he would be cross. And besides, if he talked too much or moved too much…_he_ would be awaken.

"Yes, what is it?"

Instead of a reply there was a high pitch giggle. Then, the sound of running footsteps could be heard outside the doorway and then came a door slamming.

Diamondhead sighed, he slowly got up from his wooden chair and then pushed it back in. With gradual steps, he walked to the only door entrance of his sleeping headquarters. He slowly turned handle and opened the door to reveal…a basket of flowers.

Diamondhead expected this. Ever since he came here, he has been getting flowers from the ladies at least once a week. It was basically their way of showing how much they love him. And it was getting pretty annoying.

At least…for Yang.

Diamondhead looked to see if anyone was still there. Seeing that no one was, he picked the basket up and headed back into his room. He slowly closed the door, basket still in hand.

Yin woke up from his nap.

_Yawn! That was a most pleasant nap!_

Yang groaned.

"Go back to bed Yin."

Yin was offended.

_Why should I go back to bed! I have every right to this body as you do! Now it is my turn to have control of the body!_

"No."

_Please….!_

"No. I want to study some more."

_Blah, blah, blah. "I want to study more." "I like studying." You know Yang. You need a life. You shouldn't be so cross._

"And you shouldn't be so stupid. You never take anything seriously and if you were in charged of this body more. We would have been kicked out of the academy long ago."

_Do we have any cheese?_ said Yin suddenly.

"Do we have what?"

_Cheese._

"No, we do not have cheese. You should stop that cheese addiction of yours."

_Humph…hey…what'cha got there rabbit?_

Diamondhead couldn't hide the fact that he was holding a basket of flowers. Dimly, he replied, "Uh…flowers?"

_FLOWERS!_

Instantly, Yang was pushed out of control over the body. Yin took over with an eager look on his face.

"Yay! Flowers! And they're blue too! I love blue! Where should I put them?"

_By the window?_

"The window? But I already have filled up the window ten-fold!"

Like I said before hand, Diamondhead has been getting flowers from the females ever since he first came to the school. Diamondhead, or rather Yin, took care of each and everyone of them until old age killed them. Currently, fifty pots that were holding flowers were sitting on several shelves that were by the window. The suns rays were warming the plants and opening their flowers, giving them life and happiness. Diamondhead looked desperately for a spot for the new arrival but found none.

"Hmmm…where should I put this?"

_Outside?_

"Oh but Yang! That will kill the plant if I don't water it and tend to its every needs!"

_Why are you so obsessed with some freaking plants? We can't smell them and we can't eat the fruits._

"Ah, but we have senses that_ detect_ odors."

…_That's not the same as smelling._

It would look particularly weird if anyone was listening in right now. For all they be hearing is Yin's voice and not Yang's. To the casual viewer, this scene would look strange and make it look like that Diamondhead was crazy. However, this is perfectly normal for Diamondhead to act this way. Since Diamondhead hardly spends time with Ripjaws and Blizzard, he gets to be by himself most of the time. So talking to himself was a way to keep him from getting bored.

"Yang! Growing plants is more than just eating them or smelling them…it is about bringing natural beauty into our world! Let life live and grow!

_Yin, our species lives in caves. How in god's name do you suppose we can see natural beauty?_

"Lighten up Yang! You should loosen those ropes that have you tightly coiled down!"

_And you should be more serious._

"You should be more serious," said Yin in a mocking tone. Still desperate to find a place for the blue flowers, Yin turned to the study desk and was about to placed them on the top right corner of it when a picture caught his eye. He picked it up and examined it.

The picture was of that used by a regular camera, it was surrounded by a gold frame and had a wooden back. The picture showed that of Diamondhead when he was five years younger. He had a smiling face on him and was wearing a gray jumpsuit. He wasn't the only one in the picture. An arm that belonged to Diamondhead's was wrapped around a female Mineralist. She had large eyes and had a spiky, mineral hair style. She had a warm smile on her face that would make the sun shine bright and she had an amazingly smooth, crystal skin. She was hugging Diamondhead.

Diamondhead, instead of having gray or green eyes, had yellow eyes.

_Don't tell me you are looking at the photograph again._

"And why should I not?"

_It might make you have funny ideas, that's all._

Diamondhead continued to look at the photograph. Giving a small sigh, he placed the picture down and started thinking again about where to put the flowers.

It should be noted that Yin or Yang have no memory whatsoever about how they came to be in this large universe. The only memory they have is when they first came to this world four and a half years ago. The only thing to remind them of their life before they came to existence was the photograph of the smiling, yellow-eyed Diamondhead. Yin and Yang have always respected this photograph. They worship him as a higher god, looking over them as they progress on in life. Since then, they have always referred to the yellow-eyed Diamondhead as "the Tiger spirit." A spirit that they know is somewhere out their but they don't know where.

It should also be noted, that Yin or Yang do not remember who the girl was.

Diamondhead looked at the large clock on the wall. After seeing the time, he decided that he should go to dinner and go eat some rubies. He was about to leave when he realized that he still had the pot of flowers in his hands. Still with the dilemma of where to put the flowers, Diamondhead got an idea.

"I know! Let's give it to one of the teachers!"

_Why?_

"It will be a token of our appreciation towards them!"

_Whatever, just as long as we can get rid of it._

Diamondhead smiled, he walked to the door and placed the flowers on the floor. He then grabbed a handkerchief off of the coat rack and tied it around his face so that it would cover his eyes. He bent down again and grabbed the pot of flowers and picked it up. Yin switched places with Yang and thus, Yang had control of the body. Diamondhead opened the door and started walking down the hallway.

Since Diamondhead resided in the female dorm, it was rule that he should have a blindfold on whenever he was walking in the hallways of the dorm. Mainly so that he wouldn't see any girls if the only thing they had on was their underwear. But that didn't bother him since he had other senses that could detect his whereabouts wherever he walked.

It was also procedure that Yang would be present in the body whenever Diamondhead was out in the public.

When Diamondhead was out of the building, he took off his blindfold and proceeded to the cafeteria. It was a quiet walk and a peaceful walk. The birds were chirping and the animals of the forest could be heard. As usual, girls would stop and be in awe as Diamondhead walked past them. Once he walked past them, they started chatting relentlessly on how handsome and strong he is and how they want him to be their boyfriend. Whenever it was this peaceful out, Diamondhead would go on autopilot and relax his mind. All day studying and training was enough to make him tired and hungry. In fact Diamondhead-

"COMING THROUGH!"

Diamondhead stopped and turned around, but as soon as he did, a blue blur smashed into him causing him to fall over. Books went flying in the air as the two beings fell to the ground. Luckily the plant was unharmed. Diamondhead regained his senses and got into a sitting position to see who it was that ran into him.

It was XLR8.

"I'm ssssorry! I'm ssssorry! Pleassssse forgive me!"

She kept bowing to the fallen Diamondhead at the same time she was picking up all of her books. Diamondhead was amazed that such a small figure could carry all of these textbooks. He picked one up and examined it.

The title of the textbook was Advance Calculus. It was large and was very heavy. Diamondhead skimmed through it and was amazed that this student was taking such a hard class.

"Um…excusssse me?"

Diamondhead looked up. XLR8, with a mountain load of gigantic text books in her hands, was looking at him with an embarrassed look on her face. Her legs were shaking hard from the extreme weight that has been placed upon her.

"May I have that?"

Diamondhead looked at the textbook and back at her.

"Need a hand?", he said.

"What! Oh no no no no no no! I got it! Pleasssse don't do-"

Without saying a word, Diamondhead got up and took all of the textbooks off of her hands. As a trade, he gave her the pot of flowers and held the textbooks with both of his hands.

"Can you please hold that for me?"

Shock that she was given flowers from the great Diamondhead, XLR8 said, "S-sure."

"Where are you headed?" said Diamondhead.

"The cafeteria, I'm asss hungry assss hell."

"Good, I'm headed there too."

"Really?" said XLR8 quickly.

"Yeah, so that works out well for the both of us."

XLR8 smiled, "It doesss."

They resumed their walking again. XLR8 was looking at the pot of flowers that were still in her hands. She looked back up to Diamondhead and said, "Thank you for the flowersssss."

Diamondhead, or rather Yang, was taken aback from this comment. Originally, he (or rather Yin) wanted to give them to a teacher. But he didn't care as long as he got rid of them.

"Your welcome."

XLR8 smiled, when Diamondhead saw that smile he was instantly reminded of the girl Mineralist from the photograph. The way she smiled and XLR8 smiled were exactly the same. He suddenly can't shake the feeling that the two of them were alike.

Suddenly, a large bark came from the forest. The two of them turned around to see a running Wildmutt coming straight from the forest. His large tongue was hanging out and he was barking like hell. XLR8 looked disgusted as Wildmutt headed towards her.

"Ssssstop! Sssstop now you dumb animal!"

But Wildmutt didn't stop, instead, he jumped on top of XLR8 and started licking her. XLR8 screamed as the huge animal's weight was pressing down on her. She kicked the creature off of her and quickly got back up.

"You damn dog! Why don't you go back to Prince Four Armssss!"

"Four Arms?" said Diamondhead.

"Yesss, thissss damn dog belongssss to Prince Four Armsss!"

Wildmutt gave a large, playful bark and turned towards Diamondhead. Diamondhead just looked at him and then smiled. XLR8 was surprised since she never saw Diamondhead smiled before. Now that she thought about it, why does he have green eyes instead of gray?"

"Prince Four Arms, eh?"

He shifted the weight of the textbooks to one of his hands and petted Wildmutt with the other.

"Go back to your owner, boy. I'm sure he is looking for you."

Wildmutt barked again and ran back to the forest.

XLR8 looked at the running Wildmutt and then back at Diamondhead. She looked at his gloved hands.

"Issss that why you wear glovessss?"

Diamondhead smiled even bigger, "yes, that is why. I don't want to hurt anyone with my sharp hands so I wear gloves to protect the person being touched from getting hurt."

Now she was sure she wasn't seeing things, Diamondhead's eyes turned from green to steel gray in a matter of seconds. She looked at the delicate flowers that he gave to her. The blue petals matched her skin and the aroma that came from them smelled wonderful. She smiled and said, "Well, should we continue to the cafeteria?"

"Yes, let's continue. I'm in the mood for some rubies."

XLR8 laughed.

"Your sssso funny!"

Diamondhead didn't know what he said that was so funny, but he just shrugged and the two of them continued together on the sidewalk to eat dinner together.

Unbeknownst to him, Diamondhead made a new friend today.


	28. Before the Water Trial

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** It was earlier asked about why Heatblast keeps his bet to DCELR8 since DCELR8 is dead. Well, Heatblast is the kind of person who always keeps to his word, even though he is a pervert, he has a sense of honor, pride and trust that makes him a great…er…man. This brings up an important item of information. Little things that the characters do in the story signify who they are. It is your job to make the assumptions about who they really are.

By the way…I'm slightly busy right now so the stories are going to come in slower.

---------

"_Daddy! Daddy!"_

_DSEL turned around to find that his daughter, XLR8, was running towards him._

"_Yesss, dear what isss it?"_

_XLR8 ran up to DSEL and gave him a big hug around the leg. Though small for her age, she can give quite powerful hugs._

"_I finally decided what I wanted to be when I grow up!"_

"_Oh really? Now, what would that be?"_

"_To be a legendary hero! I want to protect innocent and defeat the evil bad guysss! I want to be ssstrong like you are!"_

_DSEL closed his eyes and smiled._

"_That'ssss great dear. Too bad you weren't able to sssave me from my death."_

"_What?"_

_Suddenly, XLR8 founded herself surrounded by black water. The water seemed to ebb and flow in a creepy way. XLR8 was looking at the water with anxiety._

"…_Daddy? Where are you? Daddy! I'm sssscared!"_

_Just then, a large tentacle broke the surface of the water and headed towards XLR8. XLR8 saw the tentacle and screamed, she tried to get away but the tentacle grabbed her leg and started pulling her in. Soon, more tentacles sprung out of the water and started to wrap themselves around XLR8. XLR8 screamed as she was slowly pulled into the dark, murky waters._

_Not strong enough…_

"NO!"

XLR8 shot out of her bed and fell to the ground. She screamed as the bed sheet started to wrap itself around XLR8. The more she flung her limbs and tail, the more entangled she got…also the louder she got. Finally, after much fighting, she was able to pull off the sheet and throw it against the wall. Her breathing became less heavier when she realized that it was just her blanket.

"God damn blanket," she said, "I wonder what today isss?"

Her head swiveled to the calendar on her wall. Her eyes pinned to the 22nd of the month. Circled around it was a big, red mark with the words: WATER TRIAL.

"Oh shit," she said.

------------------------

The small bus that carried XLR8, Upgrade, Gray Matter, Four Arms and Wildmutt to the mountain was once again taking them somewhere. This time, it was the beach. Unlike last time when he was depressed, Gray Matter was as happy as he could possibly be. Jumping around the bus, he started screaming, "YEAH! We are finally going to see our team!"

Upgrade was in the same mood as Gray Matter was, several times, he talked to the bus driver if he could merge with the bus and make it go faster.

"No," said the driver.

"Please!" said Upgrade in a pleading manner.

"I said no! Now sit down you damn teenager!"

Four Arms laughed, "Your not a least bit worried about the Water Trial aren't you Upgrade?"

"Nope!"

Upgrade jumped several seats and sat next to Four Arms.

"Who do you suppose will be on our team? In fact, who do you _want _to be on our team?"

Four Arms thought for a moment and said, "Stinkfly."

"Stinkfly? The Fly?"

"Yes."

"Why do you want her?"

"Well, rumor has it that she has been training ever since she hatched out of her cocoon. So she should be a good fighter. Also, she can fly and spray different kinds of acids and poisons. Very handy if we need long range projectiles or we need to sabotage a machine."

"Hm. Good point," said Upgrade.

Still bouncing around the small bus, Gray Matter was screaming, "WE'RE GOING TO ROCK SOOOOO HARD! YES! YES! YES! YES!"

"SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP YOU GODDAMN FROG!" yelled the bus driver.

Gray Matter sat down.

Meanwhile, at the back of the bus, XLR8 was sitting in her plush seat, looking outside through the window. Ever since she arrived to the bus stop, she hasn't said a word to any of the guys which was fine by them. Her tail was twitching, a sure sign that she was nervous. In fact, the closer they got to the beach, the harder it twitched.

Wildmutt sneezed.

After an hour of traveling and impatience, the bus finally stopped at the side of the road. The salty, sea air could be smelled as it wafted into the bus. The sound of the crashing sea waves could be heard from the distance. The bus driver turned around and said, "Get out."

The five travelers slowly got up and walked to the front of the bus. Upgrade, with Gray Matter on his shoulder, got down first followed by Four Arms, then Wildmutt, and finally, XLR8.

As they walked down the large hill to the beach, it occurred to Four Arms that XLR8 hasn't spoken yet. He slowed down his walk so that he was side by side with XLR8.

"Anything the matter XLR8?"

XLR8 shook her head.

But Four Arms could tell that XLR8 was not okay, in all his years of being near her, he could tell whether she was alright or not. Her tail was twitching and her face was as pale as the ocean. Something was bothering her. Was she nervous about the Trial? Strange, she wasn't nervous for the other two trials…maybe this was different.

Four Arms looked at the ocean, the waves were doing their steady pulses of ebbing and flowing as little sea creatures crawled across the beach. When he saw the sea he finally remembered that XLR8 had Hydrophobia, which was why she was getting nervous. It wasn't the fear of losing the Trial, it was her fear of dying.

Feeling a great deal of sadness within him, Four Arms stopped walking and bent down to give XLR8 a hug. When he delivered this hug, XLR8 suddenly looked like she was about to throw up.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" she yelled.

"I'm giving you a hug," said Four Arms who was still embracing her.

"GET…OFF…OF…ME…RIGHT…NOW!"

XLR8 squirmed out of Four Arms grasp and kicked him hard in the stomach. Four Arms let out a gasp of agony and fell to the sandy ground while clutching his stomach. XLR8 looked at him and said, "NEVER…touch me again!"

She then purposely walked on top of him and kept going straight to the transportation boat.

Actually, for awhile, XLR8 forgot about her fear of water, however when she saw the boat, it came back to her.

The boat was made out of wood, it was old and had moss growing all over it. It wasn't very big and it looked sort of rickety. Written on the side of the boat in a fading black color was the word "Miss. Princeton." Standing right by the boat was a pot-bellied old alien with a sailor cap on him. He took his pipe out of his mouth and said, "So you're the students eh? Well, I'm your Captain, Captain Foofoobender they call me, though I don't know why since my name is real name is Frank."

Captain Foofoobender took off his cap and started scratching his bald head with his hand. While still scratching it, he said to himself, "why _do_ they call me that?"

He placed his cap on his head and resumed his talking, "anyways…I'm here to take you to your island. There, on that island, is where you shall meet your team and capture the flag."

Captain Foofoobender took out his pipe and blew some smoke rings.

"Ah, the good ol' days when I was young. I was quite a hotty too. All the girls loved me, back then the girls were interested in sailors who live their lives dangerously…"

Captain Foofoobender had the look on his face that his mind was no where here. Gray Matter quickly roped it back.

"Uh…sir? Can we please get going?"

"Huh? Oh right! Hop aboard!"

"Hop" wasn't exactly the word that the five aliens didn't use. Carefully, each of them grabbed onto the side of the boat and started to climb in. The boat creaked dangerously as one by one, each of them got on. The captain, pushed the boat out to the sea, jumped onto the back end of it and started the gasoline-powered engine.

XLR8 sat in the middle.


	29. The Water Trial: Doors

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Guess what? This story is going to be more than fifty chapters long!

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The sea sun beat down heavily on Stinkfly and Heatblast. Not that they minded it or all just that it was particularly strong today. Heatblast was relaxing on one end of the boat while Stinkfly was sunbathing on the other. Her wings were stretched out to their fullest as they soaked up the warm rays. Ah, the sun rays, they were absolutely heaven.

Stinkfly and her kind were known to worship five grand gods known as "The Five Creators." True, they worship them with great pride and dignity, but there was one Creator that they favored the best.

The Sky Creator.

The Fly's have forever more been very gracious to the Sky Creator. For it is he who brings the sunlight, he who brings the water from the sky, he who would bring the cooling wind from the north, south, east and west. They loved him and worship him highly.

Stinkfly's wings twitched, she rolled over onto her back and had the warm rays heat up her stomach. She let out a sigh of relief. It felt so good.

Heatblast got full view of Stinkfly's bottom. He smirked as he sat there, looking at it for five minutes. He secretly wished that he brought his camera along to take photos of the now sleeping Stinkfly.

"Hey! Dingbats!" cried the captain.

Heatblast turned his head around, Stinkfly gave a cute, little yawn and she too got up.

"It's time to get up! Your island is coming up right about now."

Heatblast and Stinkfly turned their heads around, sure enough coming right at them was an island.

The island was large and held a monstrous cliff. Sand surrounded this mini-mountain as if it were some kind of barrier. There were no trees or plants growing on it, just moss that seemed to be scattered across the entire bay area.

Heatblast cracked his knuckles and said, "What was the name of this island again?"

"Cannon Bolt."

"Cannon Bolt?"

"Yes, they named it after Sir Cannon Bolt. Apparently, it was some sort of bribe for him to teach here. One of the things they did for him was named him an island and I believe a dorm."

Soon, the boat slowed down and stopped at the shore. Heatblast jumped over the water and onto the sandy beach. Stinkfly flew out of the boat too and landed right next to Heatblast.

"What do we do now?" said Heatblast.

"Just walk forward. When you walk far enough you should see a door. Get in that door and then your Trial begins. Ta-ta!"

The boat man gave a wave of goodbye and turned his motor back on, he then started heading back to the main land.

Heatblast turned to Stinkfly and said, "Let's go!"

Stinkfly nodded, "Yes, I am eager to see who is going to be on our team."

The two of them walked (or rather flew for Stinkfly's case) forward towards the bottom of the cliff. Both of them were keeping a look out for any doors that they might see. However, they didn't see any doors even though they have reached the edge of the cliff. They looked for five minutes and still didn't see anything, just sand.

"Well where could that door be?" said a stumped Heatblast.

Stinkfly shrugged, "Beats the hell out of me."

"Do you suppose that the fisherman was supposed to tell us something else beside the door?"

Stinkfly made a concerned look on her face.

"I hope not."

Heatblast was silent for a minute until he said, "maybe we are thinking too simple, maybe it's some kind of special door."

Stinkfly nodded in agreement, "that's an idea."

Both of them were silent for awhile.

"Maybe it's a stable door," said Stinkfly.

"Or a blind door."

"Or a flush door."

"Or a garden door."

"Or a pet door."

"Or a brace door."

"I think it is actually called a ledge and brace door."

"Oh right…sorry."

"Hmmm…how about a pocket door?"

"Or a swing door."

"Or a blast-proof door."

"Or a tambour door."

"Or an up-and-over door."

"What kind of door is that?"

"I don't know."

"How about a barn door?"

"Or a louvre door."

"Or a sliding glass door."

"Or a revolving door."

"Or…" said Heatblast getting melodramatic all of a sudden, "It is a door…that will lead us…INTO ANOTHER WORLD!"

"OH MY GOD REALLY?"

"YES, AND THERE….WE WILL SEE OUR ALTERNATE SELVES!

"THEN WHAT…?"

"WE'LL HAVE TO FIGHT THEM!"

"NO!"

"YES! AND THEN WE'LL HAVE TO CAPTURE THE FLAG AND…"

Before Heatblast could finish his sentence, he fell down through a large hole. There was a large _thud_ and then came Heatblast's moaning that he was hurt. Stinkfly peered over the edge of the hole and said, "or it could be a trap door."

After climbing down the trap door, Stinkfly and Heatblast set off down the long hallway that presented itself to them. The hallway was lit up with dim light bulbs that made the hallway as bright as a theatre. It was painted in a yellowish-white paint which gave it a really low class look. Cameras were mounted all over the place and there were no windows. Heatblast and Stinkfly were expecting to be attacked but so far, they weren't. The sense of false security was making them both feel uneasy.

After ten minutes of constant walking, the two aliens suddenly felt the floor move downwards, they slightly quickened their pace as they were pulled downwards towards the center of the island. The feeling of going downwards to who knows where was really foreboding on Heatblast and Stinkfly. The fact that it was really quiet too was not helping at all.

When the floor leveled again they could see a small, white door ahead of them. Feeling that something finally was going to happen, they both rushed to the door and stopped right by it.

Heatblast turned to Stinkfly and said, "Okay. Here's the plan. Once I open this door, get into attacking position, for whatever is on the other side of this door is probably nothing good. I'll jump to the right and you'll jump to the left. When I give my yell of command, start firing like crazy."

Stinkfly nodded.

Heatblast grabbed the knob and looked at Stinkfly, Stinkfly gave him a firm nod and Heatblast opened the door.

Immediately, Stinkfly and Heatblast leapt aside and got into attacking position.

"Hey guys!" cried a voice, "here comes our last-"

"NOW!" yelled Heatblast.

Stinkfly started shooting poisonous liquids and Heatblast shooting fireballs like hell. They went flying in the air like mad bees, attacking anything at sight and destroying it without mercy. Several loud screams could be heard as the fireballs and the flammable poisons started blowing up the place. Oblivious to the sounds, Stinkfly and Heatblast were still firing away with their eyes closed tightly. It wasn't until a large booming voice that the two of them (and the chaos) stopped firing.

"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLD IT!"

Heatblast opened his eyes. There, standing directly ahead of him, was Diamondhead. His jumpsuit was partly torn due to an acid bomb and his face was contracted in a fury of rage.

Heatblast had the feeling that he did something bad.


	30. The Water Trial: All but one

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Heheh. Doors.

The title of this chapter is suppose to be a little joke that has almost nothing to do with the story. Out of the original ten, which one is missing?

---------

From the back, Four Arms could tell that Heatblast and Stinkfly were in trouble. And why weren't they? After nearly killing everyone and almost blowing up the whole mansion, who wouldn't want to kill them? Luckily, Diamondhead's voice was strong enough to stop them from wreaking any more havoc.

After straightening his Yin/Yang necklace, Diamondhead approached the now stunned/worried Heatblast and Stinkfly. His steel-like eyes penetrated through them, like a sharp pick ax going through soft rock.

"I must say, Heatblast and Stinkfly, that was quite a show you given us there."

Heatblast tried to smile but couldn't find the heart to do so.

"Next time…when you open a door, please look before you fire."

Diamondhead gave them a salute and started to walk off, Stinkfly then yelled out, "your not angry at us are you Diamondhead?"

Diamondhead stopped and said, "No, just disappointed."

Stinkfly felt utterly sad, however, Heatblast found his voice.

"What do you mean by that? What right do you have in saying that you are "disappointed." Hey, I may be stupid and all but I got some dignity and wisdom!"

XLR8 snorted. Heatblast continued.

"I learn my mistakes like everyone else does okay? And even though my mistakes have huge consequences, it doesn't mean that I should be treated differently."

Diamondhead said nothing.

"Now," said Heatblast as if nothing had happened, "What were you guys doing before we came?"

"We were introducing ourselves," said Four Arms.

"Well then," said Heatblast getting all haughty to everyone, "you _must_ have heard of _me_ of course."

"Sure we have," said XLR8, "You're the biggest pervert on the campussss."

Heatblast's flames grew red in embarrassment.

"I wouldn't say _that_…I would say…a gentleman."

"Anyway," said Grey Matter who was ignoring Heatblast, "What's your name?"

"I'm Stinkfly, and if you must know, I have been training as an elite solider on my planet for several years. So I can be relied upon when it comes to air and poison attacks."

"Pleasure meeting you, Stinkfly," said Upgrade warmly.

Heatblast suddenly made a very loud statement that turned everyone's attention towards him once more.

"NOW that Stinkfly and I have introduced ourselves…we should elect a team leader. I elect…me."

XLR8, who didn't like Heatblast and wanted to show him a thing or two, stepped forward and said, "I would like to elect Diamondhead."

The students liked this candidate, Diamondhead did not.

"We should not elect a leader," said Diamondhead, "electing a leader might prove fatal to the team. If we want to stick together and be the very best, we got to treat each other as equals."

"Yes, but Diamondhead," inquiring Blizzard, "electing a leader would be helpful. A leader would be able to plan meetings, help fight in battles, and be able to encourage his fellow team."

The students murmured in agreement, Diamondhead shrugged and said, "Alright, let's vote. All in favor for Heatblast?"

Nobody except Heatblast voted.

"All in favor for me, Diamondhead?"

Everyone except Wildmutt, who didn't have a clue on what's going on, and Ripjaws voted for him.

"Well!" said a happy XLR8, "Looksss like we have a leader!"

"Hey, wait a minute!" said Heatblast who looked very angry, "how come he gets to be the leader?"

"Let usss think," said XLR8 in a very sarcastic tone, "what does Diamondhead have that you don't? Oh yes, he has…wisdom, strength, and kindness."

"Hmph…so you think your better, eh Diamondhead?"

"No, no I don't."

"Ah…wise guy huh? You think you are better then everyone else because you get to sleep in the girls dorm."

"I didn't have a choice. They put me there because a. I wouldn't do anything stupid to them, and b. I would protect them in case any of the males come in and rapes them. Since I am made of diamond, I won't be attracted to girls that are made of cells and thus, I won't 'rape them'."

"Well…I'm made of fire!"

"No, you are made of cells that work together to bring forth the fire."

"Listen you…I'm going to knock you a-"

Four Arms interrupted him.

"Wait…do you hear something?"

Everyone grew silent, their heads were lifted up and their ears were pried open.

"Now that you mention it," said Blizzard, "it sounds like someone screaming."

The screaming was at first barely audible but then it grew louder and louder.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

**THUMP!**

Suddenly, there came a large thump from somewhere above and the screaming stopped. Everyone looked up to see what had made that noise and to their great surprise, there was something that was lying on the glass ceiling.

"What the hell?" said Heatblast.

What the hell indeed, for upon the ceiling was what appeared to be a large plant-like alien. Its limbs were sprawled all over the place and its head was pressed against the glass in a very hurtful way. It then began to make sounds of agony as it lied there.

"Should we help it?" said Ripjaws, who was still looking at it.

Before anyone could answer her, there came a large **CRACK!**

The glass from the ceiling began to crack as large dangerous cracks began to appear all over the place. The plant alien soon took notice of this and suddenly said,

"Oh shit."

The glass all at once broke into thousands of pieces and began to rain on top of the students like a deadly shower of snow. The students ran for cover as the glass shards, and the plant alien, fell down from the sky.

THUMP!

Then the sounds of the glass snow hitting the ground followed afterwards. Like tiny bells ringing away endlessly, the glass pieces soon quieted down.

All was quiet. Then, the large plant alien groaned and slowly got up. Its large hands all the while, brushing off the glass pieces that stuck to his thick skin. It suddenly dawned the students that they weren't amazed by what she is…but by what she wore.

She wore a large pink dress that surrounded her five, pointy legs. The dress had nice, flowing designs all over it and pearls that were hung on the waist line like a Christmas decoration. She wore white, dainty gloves that seemed to be made for sipping tea and she had a small, golden bracelet on her left arm.

She looked to the sky and shook her fist at it. She sighed and then took notice of the students who were staring at her. She gave a small curtsey to all of them and spoke to them in an abnormally low voice, "Salutations students, I am Sensei-"

At this time, Upgrade came out of his hiding spot, upon seeing who it was, he screamed,

"Mother!"

Wildvine, who the plant-alien name was, turned around and said, "UPGRADE!"

She ran over and gave Upgrade a big hug, Upgrade meanwhile was trying to push her away with all of his might.

When Wildvine let go of him, she said, "It's good to see you again son."


	31. The Water Trial: Wildvine

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I shall now destroy the plant image and all of its dignity. Also, I apologize to both genders right up front and now. You'll understand what I'm talking about when you read this chapter.

---------

Wildvine turned to the rest of the students, "Well…", she said while taking off her gloves and fanning herself, "greetings once again students. I am Wildvine, please call me Sensei Wildvine. Teehehehe."

Her laugh was both annoying and odd considering that her voice was as low as a kettledrum. Heatblast had a horrified expression on his face. When she stopped laughing she said, "you've heard of me, no?"

The students shook their heads, however, Four Arms was bouncing up and down with on of his hands in the air.

"I have! I have! You are a famous ballerina and theater performer of the stage. I'm a big fan of you!"

Wildvine looked touched.

"I am honor that someone recognizes my skill as an actor and a dancer. What's your name?"

"Four Arms, Sensei," said Four Arms bowing repeatedly.

"Four Arms eh? Well Four Arms, perhaps you have also heard of my skill of fighting too? I specialize in-OH MY GOD! IS THAT THE FAMOUS DIAMONDHEAD?"

This comment caught everyone by surprise except Upgrade, who looked like he wanted to shoot himself. Diamondhead slowly said, "…Yeah."

Wildvine quickly ran up to Diamondhead while pushing over XLR8 in the process.

"Well bust my buttons and hold down my skirt! So _your_ Diamondhead eh? Well, well, well...the professors have been telling all sorts of good things about you!"

Diamondhead nodded a serious nod. Wildvine got in real close to him and whispered, "please take advance mechanics. Anyways…"

Wildvine wheeled back to Four Arms and said to him, "Now my dear boy, can you tell me what form of martial art I use?"

Four Arms was about to answer but Grey Matter interrupted him.

"Hey wait a minute!" said Grey Matter pointing a web finger at Upgrade who was still recovering from the big hug he had received, "How can you be his mother…when your not even the same species? Much less…how can you be a mother…when all known plants have both male and female reproductive organs?"

Everyone's head, except Wildmutt's who was now scratching himself, turned towards Wildvine. Wildvine was silent for a minute and said, "you must be Grey Matter."

"Correct."

Wildvine departed from Diamondhead and slowly walked up to Grey Matter and Upgrade.

"You too are famous throughout some parts of the galaxy. I must say…a Cranium who loves war is quite special indeed."

"Thank you Sensei, but you still didn't answer my question."

"Yes, about that, I'll answer your second question first. It is well known that all plants have both male and female reproductive organs. Which means…I'm not a male or a female at all…"

"I knew there was something wrong with this chick!" shouted Heatblast.

"…and because of this, I display both male and female characteristics. Such as this dress! Don't you like this dress! It makes me feel soooo pretty! It was the latest fashion and when my round little eye first caught sight of this, I was screaming with delight and bought it with my money! The store owner said that it made me sooooo beautiful! I absolutely love it!"

Everyone was struck with a dumb expression.

Wildvine put a finger up to her mouth.

"Then again…that didn't really answer your question didn't it? Hmmmm…maybe if I answer your first one…I'll answer both!"

Grey Matter was shaking his hands in front of him, "That's alright! I don't want to know!"

But Wildvine plowed forward and ignored him.

"Well…I always wanted to be a mother more than a father, I don't really know why though…maybe I just wanted to produce offspring and to carry younglings in my arms all day! Teeheeheeheehee."

Her laugh was so odd and annoying that it gave chills down everyone's back.

"But sadly, my kind wasn't really into the whole "Father-Mother thingy". They were more into the "Everyone is equal under the Life Creator thingy". I guess that is why my kind loves each other, since there is no definite sex there is no sexism and therefore everyone loves everyone!"

By now everyone wanted Wildvine to shut the hell up, however, Wildvine kept going like a runaway train.

"Soooooo in answer to your question….I made Upgrade into a living, breathing thing and made him call me his mother."

Wildvine smiled. Everyone else didn't.

"Well," said Diamondhead, "Now that _that's_ over with. Let's make a-"

"OH MY GOD! WHAT DOES THIS DO!" shouted Wildvine.

Everyone was once again caught off guard as Wildvine ran past them while pushing over XLR8 in the process once again and then up to a big button that said "Do not push."

"No, Mother don't!" shouted Upgrade.

Without heeding his warning, Wildvine pushed it.

Suddenly, flying robots came shooting out of just now opened compartments. They then turned their attention to the students and began to display guns of all sorts. Everyone was at first startled that this happened but they soon got into an attacking position.

"OOPS!" cried Wildvine, "MY BAD! I CAN FIX THIS!"

The students were about to attack when Wildvine intercepted all of them. He jumped in the air while screaming, "NUTCRACKER KICK!"

He extended one of his dainty legs in front of him and smashed through five robots all at once. The sharp end of his foot blew up the robot into thousands of pieces. When Wildvine landed onto the ground he jumped right back up while shouting, "SPINNING SWAN!"

He then began to spin as fast as he could in mid-air. His limbs then stretched out to their fullest capacity as they spun across the room. Wind seemed to be coming from him as if he was spinning like a hurricane. All robots that were in the way of his limbs blew up instantly. Wildvine landed back onto the ground, he took off all of his bombs off of his back and said quietly, "The Rite of Spring."

He then threw up all the bombs into the air. The bombs blew up the rest of the robots as they came into contact with them.

Wildvine giggled once more. Heatblast blinked.

"Okaaaaay…what just happened?"

Four Arms was the one to answer him.

"Sensei Wild vine's technique of fighting is quite unusual. It is known as "The art and style of Ballet fighting."

"Ballet?"

"Yes, ballet," said Wildvine who resumed to her talking again, "It comes from the ballet style of dancing, originally starting on Earth. It then became popular here in other parts of the galaxy. Soon, there even became a form of ballet in martial arts."

Wildvine turned to Diamondhead and gave him a salute.

"Sorry for the disturbance leader. Won't happen again."

"Er…right. Anyways, let's get moving team, we don't know how far we have to walk so we better start now."

Everyone but Heatblast nodded.

"Hey wait a minute! We should have a recount on who should be the leader!"

Upgrade groaned, "Are you _still_ on that?"

Blizzard slowly walked up to Heatblast, with a cool smile on her face she said, "Heatblast…will you do me a _big_ favor and listen to Diamondhead?"

Heatblast seemed to be awestruck, "anything you say Princess!"

Blizzard turned around and gave Diamondhead a salute, "There ya' go Captain!"

Diamondhead meekly returned it, "thank you Blizzard. Alright everyone! March!"

Diamondhead started walking to the only door that was open. XLR8 followed him and then came Four Arms. Upgrade looked back at his mother, sighed, and he too with Grey Matter on his shoulder started following them. Stinkfly followed him while Wildmutt gave a large bark and followed her. Heatblast, who had a feeling he had been duped, began to walk too followed by the Heatblast-loving Ripjaws. Blizzard followed her and had Wildvine coming up in the rear.


	32. The Water Trial: Metal Seamonsters

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** This chapter was so long that I had to split it into three parts. So this first chapter won't be as good as the next one but hey…sue me. I dare you to. By the way…METALSEDRAMON!

---------

Down, down, down the hallway went. With its cool, white painting and its low celing, the hallway presented itself in a most peaceful way. If one didn't know where one was, one would suspect that they were in a buisiness building of some sort.

As if walking to a funeral, the students plus one sensei were walking in a solemn like way. With their heads slightly pointing down and their movements slow and cautious, one would think that they were going to take their final exams.

Four Arms coudn't blame them. Everyone was hoping that they would have really great fighters on their team and what do they get?

A girl who is so uptight she would make a tight rope look loose, an amphibian who is the size of a squirrel, an animal, a pervert, a feminist, a doctor, a dork, an ice queen, a cross dresser, and a shy girl.

_Some team I have,_ thought Diamondhead.

Four Arms looked at the students with an inquiring look on his face he thought,

_Wonder what I can do to make these guys feel optimistic?_

Four Arms looked up ahead to see the Diamondhead. An idea struck Four Arms and he pushed his way to the front of the line. He quickly stopped in front of Diamondhead who stopped everyone else.

"Hey Diamondhead!" yelled Four Arms, "WHO WANTS A HIGH FIVE!"

Four Arms held out of his hands. Diamondhead looked at him like he was an idiot and closed his eyes slowly, he opened them quickly back up revealing that they changed color.

"I DO! I DO!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! WHO WANTS A HIGH FIVE!"

"I DO! I DO!"  
Diamondhead and Four Arms quickly gave each other a high five and gave each other a hug. The students looked at them in disbelief.

Diamondhead? Giving a high five?

Diamondhead turned to them and gave them a quick bow.

"I suppose my counterpart did not tell you who he-or I-really was. The Diamondhead you see right now is Yin, the Diamondhead you saw ten minutes ago was Yang. I-or we- have a severe problem of having a split-personality! But that's okay! Because…I'M THE FUN ONE! YAY!"

The students were puzzled of what they saw and heard. Grey Matter though spoke up.

"Well that's cool! I'm glad that our leader is as odd and unique as we our! It would have been boring if we just had a serious, perfect leadee!"

All the students, except XLR8, nodded in agreement. Diamondhead had a look of utmost joy on his face.

"You accept my personality disorder! FRIENDS!"

Diamondhead quickly gave everyone an enormous group hug. When he let go he said,

"Friends! We must battle forth! With the smell of triumph in the air, we shall capture the flag! Whose with me?"

All the students, except XLR8 once again, screamed in excitement.

Diamondhead turned around to see that a door was in front of him. He nodded a happy nod to the students and opened the door.

The students plus one sensei entered the room and were almost surprised to what they saw. The room was a very large circular room with a very high ceiling. The walls were curved in such perfection that a geometry buff would have been proud. The floor had the appearance that it was made of hard steel and had the strength to hold up 16 elephants…maybe more. In the middle of the room was a large, circular body of water. This water in return surrounded a little island.

And on the island was a blue flag, this flag was propped up so that it was standing straight up. The blue flag revealed the words "WATER."

"There it is!" shouted Diamondhead.

"Let's get it!" yelled Heatblast.

Diamondhead, Heatblast and Four Arms ran forward towards the flag, they were about to jump the circular water way when a chilling voice stopped them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were yoooooooouuuuu."

Suddenly, the water began to churn violently. Mini waves splashed onto the sides of the floor as the water became even more chaotic. Finally, a long, serpent like head rose above the water. Its mechanical like head was moving upwards like a cobra would raise its head just before attacking. It grinned a robot grin as if to say "you look rather tasty today."

Four Arms, Diamondhead and Heatblast looked at the large serpent monster in awe.

"Er…good day," said Four Arms.

The grinned grew even wider now the machine monster looked more like a crocodile than a snake.

"Good day," it said.

"Er…may we have the flag?"

"No."

"Oh…okay…I guess we have to fight you for it, right?"

"Correct."

"Okay…may we ask what your name is?"

The serpent monster rose even higher and its grinned somehow got even longer.

"They call me SEAN. Serpent Engineered Aerodynamic Nuffsaid."

"Hello Sean," said Four Arms waving one of his hands, "I guess that means you are a machine, right?"

"Correct. I was built by intelligent mechanics to fight against the students in the Water Trial. My main purpose is to guard this flag."

"Is that all? Don't you want more in life?"

"Well, I actually want to be a painter, but-"  
"CAN WE FIGHT ALREADY!" yelled Heatblast. Heatblast then jumped in the air and pulled back his fist to punch Sean in the jaw. However, the machine serpent quickly pulled back his head and Heatblast missed by a mile. Instead of hitting metal, he hit air and fell to the ground.

"OW! What the hell! Fight me!"

Diamondhead found his chance while Sean was distracted. He jumped over the circular river and ran to the flag. However, Sean saw him and quickly grabbed him with his tail.

"You got to be quicker than that!"

He then threw Diamondhead to a wall. Diamondhead slammed into the wall and fell to the ground with a large clatter. However, he quickly got back up and said, "You got to do better than that to defeat me."

Wildvine ran forward to and stood as proud as she could.

"Fear not my students! Your Sensei shall destroy this monster!"

Wildvine was knocked out in less than one minute. His now limp body laid against the wall in a lifeless manner.

Heatblast held up his hands and shot fireballs at Sean. Sean easily ducked them and dove into the waters.

"Where'd he go?" said Four Arms who was peaking into the water.

Suddenly the water churned violently and Sean shot out of the water. His open mouth grabbed Four Arms and lifted him high up in the air.

"AHHHH! Help me!" Four Arms screamed.

While Heatblast was trying to get Four Arms down, Diamondhead turned to the rest of the students and said: "Get the flag! We'll hold this creature off."

The students looked at each other and nodded. Each of them took off in different directions. Only Grey Matter and Upgrade stayed behind.

"I'm going to see if I can open this door!" said Grey Matter, "Protect me if anything happens!"

Upgrade nodded and didn't move away from Grey Matter.

After dropping Four Arms to the floor, Sean saw that the other students were running towards the flag. With a flick of his oil-like tongue he said,

"I don't think so! Minions!"

The panels of the circular wall opened up just then. Shooting out of them were many robots that looked like sharks with wings.

"Meet my minions, I call them the Sharkopaths. They're able to communicate to each other superbly and they have a strong desire to kill things.

The Sharkopaths stopped the students in their tracks. They looked at the mechanical monsters with a slight agitated look on their faces. The Sharkopaths made several blinking sounds and zoomed off in different directions.

"Grrrr…god damn machinesss," said XLR8.

She raised one of her legs and held it out in front of her. Some of the Sharkopaths zoomed to her with their jaws wide open. XLR8 raised her leg and started kicking them as fast as she could.

However, the Sharkopaths were faster than her. Every time she tried to kick one it would dodge it easily. Five of them were surrounding her now and began to zoom in closer like buzzards do when enclosing towards a fresh carcass.

"DAMN YOU! WHY DON'T YOU DIE!" she yelled still trying to kick at them.

Ripjaws meanwhile jumped into the water intending to swim towards the flag. However, seven Sharkopaths followed her into the blue waters. When Ripjaws found out that she was being chased, she began to swim as fast as she could through the waters trying to shake them off. She had to dodge SEAN's whip-like tail from time to time in order for her not to be captured. However, the Sharkopaths were getting nearer…and nearer…

Up above, Stinkfly and Blizzard were also running towards the flag. Like graceful dragonflies, they dodged any oncoming attacks from the Sharkopaths and circled around the water to see if they can get the flag from behind.

However, as they were running, the water began to churn violently. Stinkfly and Blizzard knew that that can't be good so they prepared themselves to attack whatever was going to come out of the waters.

Suddenly, coming out of the waters were two large robot creatures. One of them was a crab and the other was a lobster. They clanked their gigantic claws as they climbed out of the water and crawled towards Blizzard and Stinkfly.

Stinkfly turned her head towards Blizzard and said, "Hey ice queen! Your good at destroying relationships…are you good at destroying giant robots?"

Blizzard gave her an evil look and said, "Don't test me Fly. I'm as good as a fighter as you are with your mouth."

Stinkfly smirked, "tough words for a dainty princess. Alright, let's make a bet. The first one to take down their robot will get three pounds of chocolate from the other. Deal?"

"Deal."

They briefly shook hands and faced their opponents.

Blizzard held out her hands and had a concentrated look on her face. Ice began to form from her right hand and began to grow and take shape. When the ice was done morphing, it took on the form of a long, curved sword. Blizzard took the handle with her right hand and held it out in front of her like a samurai. She faced the oncoming crab and said, "Beware sea monster from the deep! I am Blizzard! I have trained in the art of sword fighting for many years back at my home planet. I shall cut you in half!"

She ran forward and slammed her sword onto the hard shell of the crab. Since the armor was stronger than her sword, the sword shattered and fell to pieces.

"AHH! My sword!" she screamed.

The crab raised one of its claws and slammed it down to the ground making it rumble. The ground trembled as if a large earthquake was happening. Blizzard fell to the ground on her behind and was about to get up when a shadow loomed over her. She looked up and saw that the crab raised its other claw above her. With a slight pause in its movement, it hurled the claw to the now screaming Blizzard.

Stinkfly was having the same luck as Blizzard was, when Stinkfly spat her acid on the lobster, the lobster continued to attack her as if nothing happened.

"Damn it!" she yelled, "that armor is too damn thick!"

She then shot her glue substance at the legs of the lobster. The substance grabbed hold of the legs and the floor and stayed firmly put.

"HA! Try to get out of that one!"

Instead of resisting the substance, the lobster aimed one of its claws at Stinkfly. It then shot a jet stream of water at Stinkfly. Stinkfly gasped as the water hit her squarely on her face. She then fell to the ground due to her wings being wet. Cursing, she tried to get airborne again but with no luck. She turned her head at the lobster to see that it broke free of his bind and was slowly walking towards her.

"Oh crap," she said.

Only Wildmutt was doing the best out of all of them. He was so fast and agile that he would be able to keep one step ahead of the Sharopaths and one jump ahead of their jaws. Jumping from wall to wall, to floor to floor he clawed, bite and kick the Sharkopaths into oblivion. When he landed back to the ground he smiled a faint smile and attack them once more.

Four Arms, Heatblast and Diamondhead meanwhile were having much trouble with their opponent. Every time one of them attacked, SEAN would easily dodge it. SEAN seemed to be enjoying himself. And after he dodge an attack he would return to his constant swaying, a sway that most resembles that of a python would sway to a charmer's flute.

It occurred to Diamondhead that SEAN was like a cat and they were like mice.

He was playing with them.

After throwing Heatblast to a nearby wall, SEAN quickly grabbed Four Arms with his tail and lifted him high in the air.

"I'm tired of playing games with you," said SEAN, "I'm going to kill all of you now. I'm sorry, I had so much fun. I wonder how long you can last with out any air?"

He squeezed his tail around Four Arms tighter and tighter around his chest. Four Arms' face was turning a different color. It grew bluer and bluer as he grew weaker and weaker.

"NO!" yelled Diamondhead.

Diamondhead raised his hands and shot diamond shards at the tail. The diamond shards zoomed through the air and neatly cut the tail in half. Four Arms made a large gasped for breath and fell through the air. Diamondhead made a leap of faith and grabbed Four Arms in mid-air. Diamondhead landed softly on the ground and put Four Arms back down.

"You okay Four Arms?"

"Wheeeze! Yeah…I'm okay."

Diamondhead looked at SEAN with a look of pure seriousness through his steel colored eyes.

"Alright SEAN! Enough playing games! Let's fight for real now!"

SEAN looked at his now missing tail and back to Diamondhead again. With an evil look on his face he said, "with pleasure."


	33. The Water Trial: Whose got your back?

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** It should be noted, that Ghostfreak's personality will be the same as its always have been. Also, I like to write chapters that have nothing but fighting in them. They're easy and fun to write!

---------

SEAN lunged forward with his wide mouth open. Diamondhead quickly held up his hands and tried to stop the oncoming attack from the monster. The mouth slammed into him but Diamondhead was able to get a grip on the jaws. However, the force was so strong that Diamondhead ran right into the wall, debris fell from the wall as the Mineralist was pinned there in helplessness. All the same, Diamondhead didn't give up; pushing with all his might he began to take steps forward. SEAN was surprised that he was this strong so he too pushed harder.

"Yin!" Diamondhead yelled, "I can't hold him off much longer! I need your strength!"

_Oh…I think you got it under control…hey look at that! An orange button!_

Arms shaking, Diamondhead began to falter as the brute force of the metal sea monster began to take its toll.

"Diamondhead!" cried a voice.

Four Arms ran up to SEAN's head and punched him with two of his fists. SEAN let go of Diamondhead and groaned in pain. Diamondhead fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"Thanks Four Arms."

"Any time."

Four Arms picked Diamondhead up and the two of them faced SEAN. SEAN shook his head and said, "that actually hurt. Looks like you two _are_ being serious."

Heatblast jumped over Diamondhead and Four Arms and fired a gigantic fire ball that he prepared at SEAN.

"TAKE THIS YOU SHIT EATING TUNA!"

The fire ball roared threw the air and blew up in SEAN's face. Heatblast took a pose.

"Oh yeah! Who's bad? ME! That's who!"

However, Heatblast's shouts of joy were quickly squashed when a chilling voice said, "okay, now you're getting annoying."

Heatblast gulped and looked up to see an angry SEAN looking at him. The smoke cleared to reveal that his machine like face was twisted in utmost anger. He roared once more and dove towards Heatblast.

-------------

Meanwhile, Ripjaws was fighting the cursed Sharkopaths underwater. After trying to crush them with her jaw (which was no good since they had tough armor) and swiping them with her claws (which were also no good for the same reason). Ripjaws did one last tactic that would save her.

"SWIM AWAY!" she cried, "SWIM AWAY!"

Her tail swam with all its might through the waters. The Sharkopaths gleamed their metal teeth and swam closer and closer. One of them got so close that he began to nibble on her tail fin. Ripjaws was screaming with all her might and was trying to get away. However, soon other Sharkopaths began to attack her. Tears were forming in her eyes as Ripjaws prayed that she wouldn't die.

One of the Sharkopaths bent around the circle bend and swam towards Ripjaws. When Ripjaws saw the Sharkopath she gasped and ran into the Sharkopath. With their prey stationary, the Sharkopaths attacked her like hungry piranhas.

Ripjaws screamed in agony as the Sharkopaths began to open wounds across her frail body. Biting and pulling and trying to rip flesh, the Sharkopaths showed no mercy. She could feel her own blood seep through her newly opened wounds and into the darkening waters. She could feel herself grow weaker and weaker and weaker.

Her eyes saw the surface up above, the light from above was shining brightly like it was begging Ripjaws to come up. She knew that if she swam to land she will be safe. Using what little strength she had left, she pushed away some of the Sharkopaths and swam to the surface. She could taste her own blood as the Sharkopaths continued their rampage.

_Almost there…almost there…_

One of the Sharkopaths grabbed her tail and began to pull her down. Ripjaws gasped again as she felt herself being pulled down to the bottom.

_No…no…_

A hand reached down and grabbed hers. The hand pulled her back up. She felt herself being lifted up like a soul would leave a now dead body. She felt her head broke the surface and felt her blood run down her face with her tears. With another heave, the hand pulled her fully to the surface. She began to cry deeply as she realized that she hadn't died.

"You okay?" said the voice.

Ripjaws nodded and passed out.

XLR8 looked at Ripjaws with a sad look on her face. She saw all the open wounds that covered her body and the blood that moved freely from them. XLR8 looked at Ripjaws and knew that she had to get the one person who could save her.

She had to get Four Arms.

She was about to leave when the Sharkopaths that attacked Ripjaws also broke the surface of water intent on finishing off their prey. They took sight of XLR8, then Ripjaws and back to XLR8.

"Get out of my way," she said as maliciously as she could, "or I will kill you."

The Sharkopaths made a beeping sound and flew towards XLR8. XLR8 quickly raised her foot and smashed one in its face. She then quickly ducked an attack made by one of them and sliced it with her sharp claws. She then grabbed the head of a now severed Sharkopath and threw it at another one causing it to blow up.

"Get…out…of…my...WAY!"

Her goal to save Ripjaws made her a formidable opponent to them. However, in her blind fury of rage, one of them snuck up behind XLR8 and quickly closed its jaws around XLR8's arm.

CRUNCH!

XLR8 felt her right arm's bone shatter to pieces. XLR8 screamed as she felt searing pain erupt throughout the bowels of her arm. Another Sharkopath pushed her into the water and XLR8 fell through it like a brick. The Sharkopaths dove into the waters and swam towards her. When she saw them swimming right at her with their mouths wide open she knew that she was going to die. The air slowly escaped from her open mouth.

_Goodbye…XLR8._

_Goodbye…Daddy._

--------------

"XLR8!" yelled Upgrade.

Upgrade looked around; no one saw XLR8 fell into the water. Everyone else was busy fighting their opponents, no one except he saw what happened to XLR8. Upgrade began to panic. What to do, what to do?

"Damnet!" cursed Grey Matter.

Upgrade twisted his head around; Grey Matter was still fidgeting with the controls. So far, the door hasn't opened yet.

"Grey Matter!" said he, "XLR8 is in trouble! I got to go save her!"

"Whatever, as long as you come back."

Upgrade quickly left Grey Matter and ran to where XLR8 fell in. He desperately looked for her through the mucky waters. He then found where she was and dove in.

The Sharkopaths were swimming around her ready to attack. While they were doing this, XLR8 was just floating there…not moving.

"XLR8!" screamed Upgrade. He swam up to the Sharkopaths and punched one of them on the nose. While the Sharkopaths were momentarily distracted, Upgrade quickly grabbed XLR8 and swam to the surface. He climbed back on still holding XLR8 in his arms. She was not moving.

"…XLR8?" he said.

XLR8 suddenly started coughing hard. Upgrade was happy.

"You're alive!"

"Ugh…where am I?"

She looked up to see Upgrade whom she was still in the arms of.

"ACK! Put me down you walking ssssack of wiresss!"

Upgrade slowly put XLR8 down.

"Are you okay?"

"Who? Me? Sure, I'm okay.."

"That's good."

"OF COURSSSE I'M NOT OKAY DUMBASSSSS!" she screamed, "MY ARM ALMOST GOT BITTEN OFF AND I ALMOST DROWNED!"

Upgrade knew for a fact that XLR8 was joking and that she deeply respected him as a friend.

XLR8 turned to the unconscious Ripjaws and said, "She needs treatment fast. Go get Prince Four Armsss quickly. If she losessss any more blood she will die."

"But what about your arm?"

"Hey! I'll be okay! Now go!"

Upgrade nodded his head vigorously and ran to get Four Arms.

-----------------

"SHIT!"

Grey Matter cursed once again as he was fiddling with the controls. Every time he tried to open the door a sign would flash: INCORECT. PLEASE ENTER CORRECT SEQUENCE.

"What the hell does that mean!" he yelled.

His eye caught sight of a purple button right by the controls.

"And what the hell does this button do!" ye screamed, pushing the button numerous times, "it does nothing!"

He sighed and decided to have his brain take a mental break. He turned around and watch the fights happen. He sighed in happiness as he was watching.

"Ah…this is so blissful."

Two Sharkopaths caught sight of Grey Matter and sped forward to attack him. Grey Matter saw them flying towards him from the other side of the room. He looked around desperately for Upgrade but couldn't find him.

"Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit," he said to himself as the Sharkopaths drew closer and closer. He knew he was done for, no one was here to protect him, he will be bitten in half and swallowed whole. Grey Matter sat down, put his hands over his eyes and waited for his death.

Nothing happened….

…

Still nothing happened.

…

Dare he open his eyes?

….

Grey Matter opened one of his eyes to find that both of his attackers were on the floor dead.

"Wha-How?"

"_Don't worry Mathew, your safe as long as you are with me."_

Grey Matter looked up to see Ghostfreak hovering above him. Both of her hands were in front of her. She lowered her hands and looked at him.

"Penelope!"

"_Who didja expect?"_


	34. The Water Trial: The Last Ones Standing

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** This reminds me of the time when I used to be gamemaster. How fun it was to toy with my opponents and send very hard villains after them. Teehehee, the good ol' days.

---------

With quick reactions, Blizzard was able to put up an ice shield just in time to stop the oncoming crab claw attack. The gigantic claw slammed onto the shield making it ring out a deadly, low note. The shield fell to pieces but Blizzard was already pulling her fist back and launching it forward to hit the claw. Her fist punched the claw so hard that ice formed all over the claw. Blizzard then jumped into the air and down kicked the crab's head to the ground. The kick was so strong that ice formed all over the head and onto the ground making the crab frozen in place. Blizzard landed on the ground and yelled, "HA!"

Her victory was short lived though, for just then, the crab broke free of his ice prison. He shook off the remaining ice shards and started swinging his claws at Blizzard. Blizzard began to evade the claws as she tried to think up another plan of action.

Meanwhile, Stinkfly was having trouble getting the water off her wings. Panic consumed her body as the gigantic lobster crawled towards her.

"Come on...work damn you!"

Even though she tried her best, the wings only moved very slowly, no where close to getting her to fly again. Her eyes kept looking at the walking lobster and back at her wings. The lobster raised one of its claws and was preparing a water bullet attack.

Stinkfly knew that this was the end but she knew that she was not going down without a fight. Standing as tall as she could she said, "bring it on you damn machine."

Just then out of sheer dumb luck, Heatblast landed right next to her. He quickly stood back up with a sheer determination on his face.

"Heatblast!" said Stinkfly.

Heatblast turned to Stinkfly and said, "Oh hello Stinkfly. How does it go?"

"Bad, and you."

"Not so good, SEAN is a very tough opponent and so far we haven't bee able to take him down yet."

Stinkfly got an idea, "I know you can do it Heatblast! Just believe in yourself!"

Heatblast seemed to be inspired by this comment, he stood back up and his flames were stronger then ever.

"Your right Stinkfly, I shall win!"

Due to the excessive heat that Heatblast was producing, Stinkfly's wings dried off rather quickly. Heatblast gave a quick smile to her and ran off. Stinkfly faced her opponent and said, "Alright you damn lobster, it is time for your defeat!"

Stinkfly shot up in the air with the power of her mighty wings, like a dancing dragonfly, she wheeled around in mid-air and faced her opponent.

"Heh. I have the advantage of flying which means this should be easy! Poison won't work on this fellow so my claws will just have to do!"

She swooped downwards at an incredible speed, with her legs sprawled out she quickly zoomed by the lobster without him even knowing she was there. Though it looked like she did nothing, one of the claws of the lobster slid off his arm. Oil oozed out of now claw-less lobster.

"Ha! Take that!"

The lobster quickly raised its other hand and fired a water bullet. The water splashed onto Stinkfly making her wings yet again wet.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"…WHUMP!

She shook her head and looked up to see that the gigantic crab that was fighting Blizzard was looking down at her. With Blizzard in one of its claws she picked up Stinkfly in the other.

"Some fighter you are," said Blizzard.

"Shut up."

"BARK! BARK!"

Blizzard and Stinkfly looked down to see that Wildmutt was right below them. Barking at the large crab, he began to growl menacingly at the giant arthropod.

Stinkfly and Blizzard thought they were saved but they were wrong, for just then the lobster shot a water bullet at Wildmutt temporary paralyzing him. The lobster bent his claw down and picked up the stunned Wildmutt.

"We're doomed," said Blizzard.

Meanwhile at the other side of the room were a wounded Ripjaws and XLR8. Kneeling right beside them was Four Arms and Upgrade.

"How are they?" said Upgrade to Four Arms.

After taking off his stethoscope, Four Arms said, "hard to say. Ripjaws' pulse is very weak though with a couple of shots and bandages she will be alright."

"And is there anything wrong with XLR8?"

"Oh there always has been something wrong with XLR8 ever since I knew her," said Four Arms jokingly.

"Hardy har har," said XLR8, "fix my arm now!"

"But I can't fix your arm XLR8."

"WHAT!"

"But I can mend it! A doctor does not fix but he heals."

"Sssstop fooling around you damn wannabe doctor. I want you to do ssssomething about thisss right now!"

"Alright, alright. Don't get your shorts all twisted up in a knot, but first I have to save Ripjaws."

Four Arms took out a shot and said, "This should speed up the healing process."

He then gave the unconscious Ripjaws a shot in the arm; he took out another shot and said, "This will boost the vitamins needed to regenerate the lost blood."

He then gave the unconscious Ripjaws another shot in the arm; taking out a third shot he said, "and this will numb the pain that right now is traveling throughout her body."

He gave the final shot to Ripjaws and put the three shots right by a yellow button. He then took out some bandages and started wrapping them around her wounds. He turned to XLR8 and said, "Do you want a pain reliever shot?"

"Phfft. I don't need a pain reliever shot, just wrap my arm with bandagesss."

Four Arms shrugged and started to carefully wrap her arm with bandages.

Meanwhile, a frustrated Grey Matter works on the computer in hopes that the door will open.

"Damnet! No matter what I do I still get that same damn message!"

Ghostfreak looked at him with her piercing eye, she then said, "_is there anything I can do to help you?"_

Grey Matter sighed and looked at Ghostfreak, he then said, "thank you for asking Penelope but I'm afraid there isn't anything that neither you nor I can do about it."

Grey Matter squinted his eyes and said, "we'll have to call _him_."

"_Him?"_

Grey Matter took out a small communicator device, he then spoke into it, "Upgrade, we need you here right now."

The device answered back, "right away Grey Matter."

A minute later, Upgrade came trotting along, occasionally dodging any attacks made by the Sharkopaths. He then met up with the two of them.

"What's the problem captain?"

Grey Matter pointed his finger at the door.

"See if you can get that damn door to open."

Upgrade gave a salute and walked up to the controls. He placed his hand on the controls and let it morphed into them. After a minute, Upgrade was still working on them.

"Well…" said an impatient Grey Matter, "can you do it?"

"Hard to say, this machine is loaded with guards and such so hacking couldn't be easy. Wait. I think I have something…"

BLZZZRRRT!

Just then, an electric current shot through Upgrade's arm. It coiled around his green body like a snake would coil around its prey just before suffocating it. Upgrade froze in his tracks as the electric current raced through him.

"Upgrade!" shouted Grey Matter.

The electric current suddenly shut itself off. Upgrade just stood there motionless, then, he fell to the ground onto his back. His eye hole gave off several flashes and then his whole body lost its glow.

Grey Matter ran to his side and felt his hand.

"Upgrade, no! Oh what have I done? Snap out of it Upgrade, come on!"

Upgrade however did not move, his lifeless body was cold when Grey Matter touched it.

Then something odd happened, an odd glare came across Grey Matter's eyes. His hands began to shake not with fear, but with anger, anger that somebody did this to his best friend, someone who was cruel enough to kill him. His eyeballs began to shake in their sockets as he wanted to wreak havoc in the world.

"Penelope!"

"_Yes?"_

"Let's go kick some ass."

"_Oh joy!"_

Meanwhile, only Heatblast and Diamondhead were left standing against SEAN. After Four Arms left them to tend the wounded, they were having an even harder time to bring the sea monster down.

"Fufufufufu. Why don't you give up?" said SEAN.

"Never!" shouted Heatblast.

He then ran up to SEAN and fired another fire ball attack, however, SEAN easily dodged it and head butted him. Heatblast went flying through the air and slammed into a wall. He fell to the ground knocked out.

Now only Diamondhead was left. Determined to save his teammates and his life, he raised his hands and had them in attacking position.

"Why don't you give up?" said SEAN looking down on him, "your teammates are immobile, you're the only one left standing and you haven't even caught the flag yet…much less defeat me."

"I'll never give up! I'll destroy you and your army all by myself! I'll save my friends from you and your damn fish even if I have to kill myself!"

"HAHAHAHA! You…defeat me? You used up all your tactics and attacks, how can you possibly win?"

Diamondhead's eyes narrowed as he looked at SEAN, he then said, "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"And he still has us two!"

Diamondhead looked to his left…then down to find Grey Matter standing right beside him.

"Grey Matter!"

"_And Ghostfreak…"_

"Listen up SEAN!" yelled Grey Matter, "I have watched you fight from the back of the room and I have discover a weakness!"

"You have?" said SEAN.

"You have!" said Diamondhead.

"Oh yes…", said Grey Matter evilly, "and it's quite simple too."


	35. The Water Trial: Teamwork

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** You'll probably hate me for what the secret is but oh well.

---------

"_You_! You know how to defeat me? HA! That's a riot!"

Grey Matter smugged, "tis a riot. At first when you all were fighting, I thought we were going to lose…however…as I analyzed the situation, I discovered that we were missing a very important element."

"What?" said a bewildered Diamondhead.

Grey Matter smiled, "teamwork."

SEAN gaffed, "teamwork?"

"Yes, teamwork. As a newly formed team we are unorganized, unprepared and utterly stupid. We want to fight our opponent single handedly with no help involved. We want to shine in glory as we step on the head of our enemy."

Energy seemed to be pulsating out of Grey Matter as he was speaking this, he commanded the floor and his audience as he was speaking.

"But if we work together…we can win! For this is the theme of the Water Trial! Teamwork! For if we are united…we shall conquer and win! Friends! Watch as Diamondhead, Penelope and I help show you the power of teamwork! Ready Penelope?"

"_Ready!"_

Ghostfreak started doing some complex motions with her hands, she then clapped her hands and something odd happened.

SEAN was paralyzed.

"…What!...how…did…dis…happen…?" he said through his lock jaw.

Grey Matter gave a wink and said, "this, my sea monster friend, is the power of magic! For Penelope is a sorceress in-training!"

"…WHAT!"

"_and a good one at that may I add."_

"…You…can't…defeat…me…minions!"

The Sharkopaths turned their attention towards Grey Matter, Ghostfreak and Diamondhead. With a snap of their jaws, they came racing through the air at them. Grey Matter turned to Diamondhead and said, "at my word, fire your diamond shards at SEAN's head. Got it?"

"Uh…sure…"

Grey Matter faced forward and grinned his evil grin once again.

"Show time."

As one of the Sharkopaths zoomed above his head, Grey Matter quickly jumped high in the air and grabbed onto the jaw of the creature. He quickly climbed into the creature's body and began to tamper it. After precisely sixteen seconds, Grey Matter found the controls to the Sharkopath. He grabbed the controls with his bare hands and peering out of the eyes of the creature he said, "PARTY TIME!"

With delicate ease, he zoomed through the air shooting down any Sharkopaths that were in his way. The more he shot down, the more maniacal he became.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! DIE BITCHES! DIE! DIE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS JUST LIKE A VIDEO GAME! DIE!"

Diamondhead scratched his head, "is he okay?"

"_Oh, he is just having fun that's all."_

Grey Matter twisted the controls around so that his Sharkopath faced SEAN. Putting the pedal to the metal, he zoomed towards the still paralyzed SEAN.

"…WAIT…STOP!"

"Ready Diamondhead?" shouted Grey Matter.

Diamondhead raised his arms and said, "ready."

"HERE WE GOOOOOOOO!" shouted Grey Matter, and with quick ease, he escaped his Sharkopath which was still heading towards SEAN's face.

"…NOOOOO!"

The Sharkopath blew up in SEAN's face, right when it did Grey Matter shouted, "NOW!"

Diamondhead unleashed a horde of diamond shards at SEAN while the robot was blowing up in his face. The shards pierced through the smoke and lodged themselves at the bewildered SEAN.

When Grey Matter landed on the ground he said, "Okay Penelope, let him go."

Ghostfreak clapped her hands and the magic shut itself off. SEAN wavered for a moment on the spot, then he fell to the ground with a large THUD!

"Oh my gosh it worked!" shouted Diamondhead as he looked at the fallen SEAN.

Grey Matter smile, "this is a resort of teamwork! SEAN is able to withstand single attacks but he can't handle combinations of attacks! Though he is fallen, the battle isn't over yet!"

With that, SEAN gave a groan and raised his head, shaking off the rubble he said, "You damn frog! I'll teach you to mess with me!"

He lunged forward at Grey Matter with his jaw wide open. He was about to strike Grey Matter when he was stopped by four hands.

"…WHAT! Who did that?"

"I did!" shouted Four Arms, "Now Heatblast!"

Heatblast pointed his finger at SEAN, he then fired a fire beam at SEAN's eye. The beam went zooming through the air and onto SEAN's eye. SEAN screamed in pain as he swung his head back up causing Four Arms to fly through the air.

"AHHH! Oh why did my creator give me pain!" shouted SEAN.

Heatblast turned to Ghostfreak and Grey Matter, "we got wormy under control, take out those damn Sharkopaths and get to that flag!"

Grey Matter nodded and he took out a small wrench out of his pocket.

"Let's do this Penelope!"

"_Yay! Capture the flag!"_

Meanwhile, at the other side of the room, XLR8 slowly crawled her way towards the still unconscious Ripjaws. She began to nudge her with her unharmed hand.

"Ripjaws…? Ripjaws…"

Ripjaws slowly blinked and opened her eyes.

"W-what happen?"

"You almost died, that'sss what!" said XLR8.

Ripjaws blinked again and said, "Who are you?"

"My name isss XLR8, but that'sss not important right now. The important thing isss, are you alright?"

Ripjaws rubbed her head and said, "…yeah…I think so."

"Good. Now ssssit here and be bait."

"Be what?"

But before she could get her answer, XLR8 zoomed off in a random direction. Wondering what she meant by that, Ripjaws sat there on the spot doing nothing.

It wasn't long before she caught the sight of several Sharkopaths. When they saw that she was still alive, the quickly zoomed in to kill her. Ripjaws' eyes grew real big as she the menace.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no…"

As the Sharkopaths got closer, her heart pulsated faster. Right when the Sharkopaths were about to strike, XLR8 zoomed in out of no where and quickly kicked all the Sharkopaths into oblivion. Before Ripjaws realized what happened, XLR8 zoomed of again.

Needless to say, this happened quite a few times.

-----------------

Blizzard and Stinkfly, who were still in the claws of the crab, were watching the fights happening. Blizzard looked at Stinkfly and said, "Hey Stinkfly, wanna take down these two food specials together?"

"Hmmm…normally, I don't work with anyone…but I guess I can let it slide this once."

"First we have to get out of these claws, think you can do it?"

"Easy."

Shifting positions so that her body was in a good spot, Stinkfly had her legs press up against the wall. Using all the strength she had, she gradually opened the claw so that there was enough space for her to fly out. She then buzzed up her wings and quickly flew out. Meanwhile, Blizzard began to make the surrounding air cool down to an extremely low temperature. The result was that all the gears slowed down until they were frozen in place. The claw was so frozen that when Blizzard kicked it from the inside, that it fell into pieces. Blizzard landed softly on the ground and looked back up at the sky to see Stinkfly in the air. Forming her ice sword in her hands, she said,

"Stinkfly! I want you to spit acid on the back of the crab!"

"But the armor is too strong for my acid!"

"Just do it!"

Stinkfly didn't know what this chick was thinking about but she did it anyway. Mustering the deadliest acid she could make, she spat her poison substance on the shell of the crab. Blizzard then jumped up high in the air and with her sword pointing down, she rammed it down the acid covered part of the shell. With the extreme force of the sword and the strength of the acid. The sword went right through the shell and into the circuits of the creature. Blizzard quickly jumped off the crab just as it was short circuiting. When she landed, the crab blew up and fell to pieces.

"Now for the lobster! Stinkfly! Pick me up!"

Stinkfly swooped down and picked up Blizzard, she then flew back up to the air and faced the lobster. The lobster meanwhile, threw the knocked out Wildmutt to the side and prepared to fire a water bullet. When it was done charging up, it fired the water bullet at Stinkfly.

However, Stinkfly nimbly dodged the bullet so fast it was scary.

"HA! You have to do better than that to defeat me! Oof! Blizzard…you're heavy!"

"I'M NOT FAT!"

"I DIDN'T SAY YOU WERE FAT!"

"BUT YOU WERE IMPLYING I WAS FAT!"

"GOD DAMNIT I DID NOT SAY YOU WERE FAT! NOW CAN WE PLEASE DEFEAT THIS MONSTER?"

Blizzard grumbled and formed a sword in her hand. Taking it in her right hand she said, "fly towards that creature at your fastest speed!"

"WHAT! YOU WANT US TO GET KILLED!"

"JUST DO IT!"

Stinkfly thought it was a crazy idea but what other plan did they have? Resting briefly on the wall right by a green button, she sprung forward at the lobster. Gathering speed as she descended, she closed her eyes in hope that she wont get splattered.

Blizzard raised her sword and screamed, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

She then sliced her sword down just as they were about to hit the lobster.

Stinkfly waited for the impact to happen but it did not come. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was still flying.

"What! How did this happen?"

Blizzard smiled, "we cut the lobster in half that's what."

Stinkfly slowed down and turned around to see that she was right. The lobster was split right down the middle. Each side was on the floor.

"Well I'll be a son of a bitch," she said.

Blizzard smiled.

Meanwhile, Ghostfreak was having the time of her life.

"_Watching Mathew fight makes my heart skip a beat every time he does something brave…sigh…he's soooo handsome."_

Apparently, this was not the feeling that was traveling through Grey Matter this instant. Right now, he just wanted to dismantle everything in site.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! THIS IS FOR UPGRADE…AND THIS IS FOR UPGRADE! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"_Sigh…so romantic."_

Ghostfreak's eye saw the flag that was still standing there in the middle of the room. She looked around the room and thought, _since no one is getting that flag…I might as well get it._

Calmly, she began to float forward through the air, not needing to dodge any oncoming attacks since they just go right through her. She floated over the waters to the little island that was right in the middle of the room. She looked around and was about to pick up the flag when she saw something happen.

A lone Sharkopath was racing towards Four Arms with its jaw wide open. Four Arms so far hasn't saw it yet because he was busy fighting SEAN. Realizing she had to do something, Ghostfreak did some complex hand motions and then she clapped her hands. Right before she did that, Four Arms screamed when he saw the Sharkopath and he held up his hands to protect his face. When Ghostfreak clapped her hands, the robot blew up right in front of Four Arms' face. Four Arms lowered his hands and said, "thanks for saving my life Ghostfreak!"

"_Saving your life? No my friend…I merely stalled it from its final destination. For in the end, all of our lives are meaningless and we can do nothing about it."_

"Er….well…thanks for stalling my death!"

"_Anytime."_

With that out of the way, Ghostfreak bent down and picked up the flag.

Instantly SEAN knew that someone captured the flag, turning his head around, he saw Ghostfreak and the blue flag that was held in her hands.

"WHAT!" he screamed.

"Hey meathead!"

SEAN turned around to see Four Arms and Diamondhead looking up at him. Smiling, green-eyed Diamondhead said, "this is the beginning of your end SEAN! Shoot him Heatblast!"

SEAN closed his eyes but nothing happened. He opened them to see that Diamondhead and Four Arms had jumped in the air and were pulling back their fists. Not reacting fast enough, SEAN was punched on the head so hard by the two of them, that he slammed to the ground with a large BAM!

For awhile, SEAN was unconscious, but when he came too, he saw XLR8 standing right in front of him. With her leg raised behind her she said, "thissss if for almost destroying my arm!"

She then kicked him on the nose with the might of ten elephants. This kick was so powerful that he was thrown right back up in the air. He wavered there on the spot like a drunk who had one too many. He was dimly aware of Diamondhead shouting, "Blizzard! Freeze the water!"

Blizzard placed her hand in the water and using all the power she could muster, she froze the water and with it, the giant sea serpent in place.

"Now Ghostfreak! Paralyze SEAN with your magic!"

Ghostfreak gave the flag to Grey Matter and said, _"hold this for a minute please."_

She then did several complicated movements with her hands and then clapped them.

SEAN was now paralyzed.

"Stinkfly! Cover SEAN's head with your flammable poison!"

"Right!"

Stinkfly then flew over the head of SEAN. She then covered his entire face with poison.

"Four Arms! Heatblast! Come here!"

Standing right by a red button, Heatblast held out his hands and said, "just like we planned right?"

Diamondhead nodded.

Holding out his hands like he was holding a large ball, Heatblast made a fireball. Its perfect roundness and intensity of heat was a thing of beauty for Heatblast. Then, Diamondhead placed his hands around Heatblast's fire ball and formed a sphere of diamond around it. The fire still shone brightly through the diamond walls. Diamondhead took the sphere of diamond and gave it to Four Arms.

"You know what to do with it."

Four Arms looked at the sphere and said, "what should we call it?"

Diamondhead paused for a moment. He then said, "The Shard Bomb."

Four Arms smiled, "Shard Bomb eh? I like it."

He carefully took the Shard Bomb and walked right in front of SEAN. Looking at the Shard Bomb and back up at SEAN he thought,

_This, for some odd reason, reminds me of dodge ball._

"Heheheheheheeee…AND YOUR OUT!"

Pulling back his arm, he heaved the bomb forward with all his might.

The bomb sky rocketed through the air at an incredible speed. When the bomb hit SEAN's face, the diamond shattered to pieces and the fire came into contact with the flammable poison.

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!**

The force was so powerful, that shock waves were formed from the explosion. Everyone was pushed back a little as the waves hit them. The noise was so loud it was deafening. When the smoke cleared, Blizzard said, "look!"

Everyone looked to see that SEAN no longer had a head. He was head-less.

Ghostfreak clapped her hands and the headless sea serpent fell to the ground with a large thud.

Wildvine woke up.

"Ohhhh….what happened?"


	36. The Water Trial: Escape

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Several of you have been asking me about Ghostfreak and her…er…problem. Not to worry my find fellow friends, all that will be explained once the time has come.

**-------------------------------------**

"Sensei!"

Grey Matter ran forward up to the recovering plant alien.

"Sensei Wildvine! Something's wrong with Upgrade!"

"Really? What seems to be the trouble?"

"I don't know! He was trying to get the door to open by tapping into the controls…and he got shocked by no apparent reason!"

Wildvine nodded her head in a concerning manner.

"Yes, I see…well. Nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about?"

"He's not dead. Not yet at least."

"Oh…well…can you turn him back on?"

"Can do-OH MY GOD YOU DEFEATED HIM!"

Everyone was caught off guard from this comment since it was quite apparent that SEAN was dead because he had no head and he was not moving.

"Err…yeah…" said Diamondhead, "we defeated him."

"WHOA!...but wait! Where's the bomb?"

"What bomb?"

"There was supposed to be a bomb that was supposed to go off after you defeat the bad guy…"

"There was? Oh well. Good thing it wasn't activated…hey…wait…what are you doing?"

Wildvine walked over to the dead robot and started tampering it.

"Relax…I'm just seeing what's the problem. If I can find the bomb, maybe I can see what's wrong with it."

"Wait! STOP!" shouted Diamondhead.

Diamondhead, Blizzard, Stinkfly and XLR8 jumped on top of Wildvine to get her away from the robot. However they knew they were too late when a computer voice said;

"Bomb activated. Bomb will go off in 120 seconds…119…118…"

"IDIOT!" everyone yelled.

"Oops…my bad!"

"What are we going to do! What are we going to do!" shouted Blizzard.

"We'll have to blow ourselves out!" said Heatblast who was preparing a fire ball.

"I'm afraid you can't do that," said Wildvine who looked very calm, "these walls are absolutely thick. The only exit is through that door."

"But the door is locked!" said Grey Matter, "we tried everything to unlock that door!"

"Everything…?"

"Sensei!" said Diamondhead, "do you know how to get out of here?"

"…Maaaaaaaaaaayyyybeeeeeee…"

"100 seconds left," said the computer voice.

"GOD DAMNIT! YOU TELL US HOW TO GET OUT OF HERE OR I'LL BURN YOU TO HELL!" yelled Heatblast.

"Alrightalrightalrightalright! You got to press the color coded buttons in the correct rainbow sequence! Please don't burn me…"

Grey Matter looked around, he then pointed to the purple button and said, "You mean…buttons like these?"

"Yes!"

"GO EVERYONE! GO! GO! GO!"

Four Arms ran to the red button and pressed it with his foot.

Heatblast jumped to the orange button and slammed it with his fist.

Diamondhead shot a diamond shard at the yellow button to activate it.

Stinkfly flew up to the green button and pressed it.

Ripjaws dove into the water and pressed the blue button.

Grey Matter ran up to the controls by the door. He jumped for the purple button but couldn't reach it.

"DAMNIT!"

Grey Matter quickly climbed the wall and pushed the purple button.

The door opened.

"60 seconds left…"

"LET'S MOVE EVERYONE! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" yelled Diamondhead.

XLR8 was the first out the door. Four Arms grabbed Wildmutt and quickly followed her. Heatblast, Stinkfly, Blizzard and Diamondhead also ran out the door as fast as they could.

Wildvine picked up Ripjaws and said to Grey Matter, "aren't you coming?"

"I'll never leave without Upgrade!" shouted Grey Matter who was holding the hand of Upgrade.

"Oh yes…I knew I forgot about something…"

Wildvine placed her finger on Upgrade's eye, she tapped it three times and Upgrade started to glow.

He sat up quickly.

"Oh…my head…what happened?"

"Upgrade! Your alright!"

Grey Matter hugged Upgrade's finger.

"45 seconds…"

"Wait…what's 45 seconds?"

"No time to explain! Let's move Upgrade!"

Upgrade slowly got up despite Grey Matter's warnings.

"I don't know what's the hurry…but I'm guessing it's bad."

------------------------

Meanwhile, up ahead, XLR8 ran into the large room that they were in before hand. She looked around and saw the door. She quickly ran to it and tried to open it but found out it was locked.

"SHIT!" she yelled.

Twenty seconds later, the rest of the group joined her. They tried the doors in despair though they know in their hearts that it was locked.

"Sensei!" said Heatblast, "are these walls very thick?"

"No, they are not but…"

Heatblast quickly powered up a fire ball and shot it at a wall. The fire ball burst the wall into pieces.

They could see outside.

Wasting no time, XLR8 ran as fast as she could. She got outside in no time.

The other aliens were about to make the same exit when something stopped them cold in their tracks.

**BOOOOOOOM!**

Immediately, the walls behind them began to crumble due to the sheer shock force that the bomb was creating. The whole building began to shake dangerously as the bomb made its explosion.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" yelled Four Arms.

Diamondhead and Blizzard quickly put shields over their heads and run to the exit as the debris began to fall from the sky. Four Arms held onto Wildmutt tightly as he hunkered over and ran forward. Stinkfly took flight and began to dodge the falling pieces of rock and cement. Wildvine made sure that Ripjaws was holding onto her well before she too ran forward to the crumbling exit.

By now, everyone was out except for Ghostfreak, Grey Matter, Upgrade and Heatblast.

**Rummmblleee……..**

The four looked up to see that the ceiling was collapsing. It gave one final loud CRACK! before it tumbled down towards them. Heatblast heated himself up as hot as he could before he jumped towards the falling ceiling. Like a hot knife cutting through butter, Heatblast burst through the ceiling easily.

When Heatblast landed on the sandy beach outside, he quickly fell down in exhaustion. He could hear the building collapse as he lied there on the hot sand.

"Thank god its over."

"But without a price," said XLR8.

"Huh?"

XLR8 slowly stepped forward to the dead house. She looked at it in an almost depressed way.

"Grey Matter, Upgrade and Ghostfreak were caught up in the chaos of the bomb. I'm afraid that in our panic, we forgot about them."

"A mistake that we shall never forgive ourselves with," said Diamondhead, "from now on, let's be _a team._ One for all…and all for one."

"That's a good idea," said Upgrade.

XLR8's heart almost leapt out of her chest. She quickly turned around to see Upgrade, Grey Matter and Ghostfreak standing there (or in Ghostfreak's case, floating).

"What! How?"

"Ghostfreak's transparent power helped us get through the wreckage."

XLR8 stormed up to the trio and said, "don't you _ever_ scare me like that again. You know how important you are to this team?"

"Hmmm…" said Grey Matter, "Me thinks that XLR8 is getting soft…"

XLR8 looked offended.

"ME? Get soft? Never! I only say that because you are valuable to us!"

"Rrrrright…"

XLR8 suddenly looked angry.

"God damnit…let's get the hell out of here!"

"How?" said Stinkfly.

_Ding! Ding!_

The twelve aliens heard a bell ringing off in the distance. They looked up to see Captain Foofoobender in a tug boat aptly named "Mr. Princeton."

"Are you students ready to go home yet?"

Four Arms smiled, "I know _I _am. I had enough for one day."

The students nodded in agreement.

When Captain Foofoobender landed his ship, the students carefully got on eager to get back to camp.

XLR8 sat in the middle of the boat.


	37. Health

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** The chapters after the Water Trial and before the Metal Trial I think are going to be the best in the whole story. Also, the Metal Trial, in my opinion, will be sweet.

By the way…at least two characters from my story will die, at least one of them will be from the main ten.

**-------------------------------------**

"_The team that Vilgax predicted to succeed is doing surprisingly well."_

"_Yes, and with an addition of a new member, Ghostfreak, he will be most pleased."_

"_Hmmm…what happened to her old team?"_

"_They found her too weird and scary so they kicked her out of their team. Ever since then…she has been a loner."_

"_How did she get to the island?"_

"_She…errr…convinced a boatman to take her to it."_

"_Hm. Well…it doesn't matter. As long as they work together and pass all the Trials."_

"_Yes, thank god that they didn't kill each other like some of the other teams did."_

"_Tsk. Tsk. Speciesism is a terrible thing."_

"_How many teams did we lose? Nine?"_

"_Eleven. Which makes us have…32 teams left."_

"_It would have been 31 if that Crocodile didn't control his temper. What was his name?"_

"_Cuttooth sir."_

--------------------------

Morning.

Ripjaws opened her eyes and smiled. She stretched out her elegant body and gave a yawn so large that it unhinged her jaw. She could feel the sun's rays on her as she slowly got up from her seaweed bed.

Ripjaws was a morning person.

She didn't know why she was one just that, she was. She liked it how if you got up early enough, you could see the stars of the night. And as morning slowly approaches, the stars would fade away and be replaced with the sun's morning glory. The birds in the background would be chirping and the wind would softly be blowing through the small trees.

Cuttooth was something else though. He rolled over on his seaweed bed and looked at her with his droopy eyes.

"Snort! Woman…what time is it?"

"6:00 Cuttooth…" said Ripjaws meekly.

"Groan…it's too early to go to school."

"I'm sorry you think that way," said Ripjaws who was looking for clams on the sea floor, "but I have to go."

"Will you be back after school's done?"

Ripjaws stopped in fear, she hasn't told her fiancee about her new hobby that she has taken up. Slowly, she said, "no…I have…play…practice…"

"PLAY PRACTICE!"

Cuttooth got up so quickly the fish that were surrounding him scattered.

"Why the hell are you doing theater?"

"Because…I…like…theater…"

"Pfft. Theater will do you no good out in the battlefield! You got to be mean! And tough!"

Ripjaws didn't know how to reply to this comment so she stayed silent.

"Groan…well…it can't be helped…what do _I_ know about women? Except they're concern about their weight, what they look like and their sheer dumbness, they are a queer mystery. Sigh…fine, you may have your "theater practice."

Ripjaws quietly said, "thank you, Cuttooth."

"Yeah…whatever…"

Cuttooth went back to sleep.

--------------------

New classes were assigned to the teams since the Water Trial ended. The need for bonding was so great on the campus that teammates were given classes that had their whole team in them. Needless to say…things got interesting.

Ripjaws ran up to the poster board to see what her team was assigned. She clutched her books tightly to her chest as she read the list.

_Team A: Health-Cannon Bolt…Building Cannon Bolt…Room 231_

Ripjaws quickly memorized the class room and as fast as she could, she ran to the building.

Up the stairs she went and down the hallway she walked.

_Room 221…223…225…227…229…ah…231._

She opened the door and walked in. The classroom was a normal sized classroom with windows, a board, and desks and of course, a floor.

"You must be Ripjaws."

Ripjaws jumped out of her skin. She looked up to see Cannon Bolt sitting at his desk. She didn't know why she didn't see him in the first place; maybe it was because he looked so astute that he just blended in with the classroom.

"Y-yes…sir."

"Very good…very good. You sit…here."

He pointed a short, stubby, clawed finger at a seat. Ripjaws quietly sat in it. A minute later, Ghostfreak, Upgrade and Grey Matter entered the room.

"Morning Cannon Bolt!" said Grey Matter.

"Good morning. You three sit here…here…and here."

Grey Matter and Ghostfreak sat (Ghostfreak however floated) to Ripjaws left and Upgrade sat to her right.

XLR8 next entered the room.

"Good morning Sssssir," said she.

"Good morning…uh…what was your name again?"

"XLR8."

"Yes, well, XTRA, you sit here."

XLR8 sat to Upgrade's immediate right. Upgrade turned to XLR8 and said,

"Has anyone told you you looked nice without your armor?"

"Shut the hell up."

The next ones to enter the room were Blizzard and Diamondhead. Diamondhead nodded to Cannon Bolt and Blizzard gave him a wave.

"Ah! Blizzard and Diamondhead! You two sit on the far left of the room. Blizzard…you have the very end. I also made the hassle of separating you from Mr. Upgrade."

Upgrade and Blizzard looked at each other but quickly turned their heads away.

Heatblast and Stinkfly were the next ones to enter the room. Heatblast didn't say anything to Cannon Bolt but Stinkfly said, "hello."

Cannon Bolt pointed to where they were sitting. To Ripjaws excitement, Heatblast sat down to her immediate left and Stinkfly sat to her immediate right.

"Hello Stinkfly," said Ripjaws.

"Hello Ripjaws."

Ripjaws turned to Heatblast and said, "h-hello Heatblast…"

"Why hello Ripjaws. How are you doing?"

"F-fine…" said she.

Before she could continue on talking with him, a large, shrill bark came off from the distance. Just then, Four Arms came barging in with Wildmutt. Wildmutt was on a leash.

Four Arms stopped and took several breaths, he then said, "Good morning Sir."

"Good morning…tell me, what is that animal doing here?"

"Oh him? He gets lonely whenever I'm not with him. So I take him wherever I go."

"Right…well, as long as he doesn't make a mess, he can stay here."

"Thank you governor!"

Four Arms took Wildmutt's leash off and set it down. Wildmutt gave a large bark and sat down at the back of the room. Four Arms took his seat next to Diamondhead and Ghostfreak.

"Now that we are all here, we can…"

"Darling!" came a voice.

Everyone looked at the door to see Wildvine, who was dressed up as a policeman. She ran up to Cannon Bolt and gave him a hug.

"It's good to see you again Candy…"

Cannon Bolt quickly pushed Wildvine off and hit her head.

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP CALLING ME CANDY!"

"But Candy…" said Wildvine dejectedly, "I thought there was something between us…"

"There was nothing between us, only air. That's all. I'm married, I have three kids."

Wildvine looked sad.

"But Candy…"

"No. Now get out of here."

Wildvine's head drooped, she then said, "can I at least stay?"

Cannon Bolt sighed. He took off his spectacles and wiped off the dust. He put them back on and said, "fine, but _don't_ make any noise."

Wildvine gave a salute and said, "Yes Candy!"

"STOP CALLING ME CANDY!"

Wildvine sat with Wildmutt and stayed silent.

Cannon Bolt sighed again and said, "today class, we are going to talk about sex."


	38. Tiny

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Some of you were probably wondering if I'll put a certain character in my story…

I quickly updated this.

**-------------------------------------**

"_What planet are we going to now Father?"_

"_The Mineralist planet!"_

"_Mineralist?"_

"_Yes, Mineralists. They are an alien species that are made entirely out of hard minerals. They are serious workers who are as cold blooded as the rocks which they eat."_

"_Why are we going there Father?"_

"_Trade and money! You see…the Mineralists like to eat certain kinds of foods. It just so happens that the food they like is quite plentiful on our home planet."_

"_What food is that?"_

"_Obsidian."_

---------------------

Four Arms was walking blissfully across the sidewalk of the campus. He smiled to himself as he looked up at the bright, blue sky. As typical, nobody was outside this glorious day.

Why?

They were all attending school.

-----------------

_The ship landed on the rocky ground slowly; after all, it did belong to the royal king. He would hate it so if it was damaged._

_The door of the ship opened and the stairs extended from the ship to the ground. King Four Arms III walked out of the ship, smiled, and waved to the crowd below. Following him was his son, Four Arms. And ending the two was the Head Royal Guardsman, SMPL._

_King Four Arms III got to the end of the stairs and shook hands with the Mineralist that was standing at the front of the crowd. The Mineralist nodded his head to King Four Arms as they shook hands._

"_Hello, I'm King Four Arms, you must be…"_

"_Sapphirehand…welcome to our planet. In honor of your visit we have made a special welcoming party, complete with the honorable customs and foods that your planet serves."_

"_Why…that is mighty generous of you. We will be glad to have such a delightful feast."_

_Sapphirehand looked behind King Four Arms and saw Prince Four Arms standing there._

"_I see that you have brought your son along as well."_

"_Yep, I thought that in order to make the bonds between our kind last for a long time, my son should know about the customs on this planet."_

"_It looks like you weren't the only ones thinking the same thing, we have brought along our most prized student. His name is Diamondhead, since he has a big future in store for him; we thought it would be good if he got to know our allies."_

_Diamondhead stepped out of the crowd, his gray eyes and serious stature gave him a look of intermittence._

_Four Arms waved to him, Diamondhead did not reply._

-------------------------------------

Four Arms gave a yawn and kept walking. He felt like taking a nap. He hadn't had one for awhile so he felt now was a good time to take one.

He found a tree by the side of the walk. He walked to it and sat down with his back kneeled against it. Nodding his head, he began to fall asleep.

-----------------------------

_When the group left them alone, Four Arms began to talk with Diamondhead._

"_So…what do you want to do?"_

"_What do you mean "what do you want to do?"_

"_We got to hang out you know? Be a groupie."_

"_Groupie…?"_

_Four Arms could see that this was going to be a harder bonding process than he thought._

"_Look…what do you do for your free time?"_

_Diamondhead shrugged._

"_Study?"_

_Four Arms did a headpalm._

"_No…what do you do for fun?"_

"_I don't know."_

_Four Arms saw a lake at the distance. He turned to Diamondhead and said, "come on, let me show you something."_

--------------------------------

Four Arms was about to fall asleep when a shadow covered him. Wondering who that was, he opened his eyes to see four eyes looking down at him.

--------------------

"_Skip rocks?"_

_Diamondhead looked at the rock that Four Arms gave him. It was small and flat with smooth edges._

"_Yeah!" said Four Arms who was picking up a rock, "I like to skip rocks and see how far I can get them. I always pick the best rocks out and use them to their fullest capacity."_

_Diamondhead looked at the rock and said, "…how?"_

"_Like this."_

_Four Arms flicked his arm to the side; the rock came out of his hand and gracefully descended upon the lake, when it made contact it skipped several times before it fell in._

"_Now you try."_

_Diamondhead looked at the rock oddly, then, imitating what Four Arms did, he threw the rock._

_The rock instantly fell in._

"_Oooh…tough luck," said Four Arms who was again, picking up another rock, "but after a little practice you'll get the hang of it."_

_But before Four Arms could finish his sentence, Diamondhead picked up another flat rock. He looked at it with his gray eyes and then began to polish it with his hand. When he was done he threw it to the lake._

_It skipped six times._

"_Whoa. You're actually quite good at this," said Four Arms, "but see if you can beat this!"_

_He threw the rock, it skipped seven times._

_Diamondhead threw his rock and it skipped eight times._

_This process continued on for about an hour. The two of them finally stopped skipping rocks either because the rocks were too far away to be seen, or they got to the other side of the lake._

"_That was fun!" said Four Arms who was now sitting on the beach, "I haven't had this much fun for years. No one would play with me because I'm the prince. And princes don't play, they study. Thank you for being my friend."_

_Diamondhead suddenly did a weird spazzing out thing, he then said, "Friend!"_

--------------------------------

Four Arms saw that what was looking at him was a Tetramand. A species of his own kind. She was obviously a girl since she had long black hair and bosoms.

"Hi!" she said, "what's your name?"

"Four Arms…"

"I'm Tiny! Wanna hang out with me?"

Four Arms suddenly had déjà vu.


	39. Storm Chasers

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I apologize most apologetically about the last chapter. I made the terrible assumption that everyone had seen "Galactic Enforcers". Boy was I wrong. Now I've updated the chapter and have kicked myself many times. I am sorry.

**-------------------------------------**

_Homework._

Heatblast made a huge sigh as he tried to finish his math homework. Today was a bad day, already a girl dumped him and he received an F on his Philosophy homework.

_Math. Peh. How will that help me out in the battlefield? How will knowing how to find the area of a sphere help me fight my enemies? It's all a bunch of nonsense!_

Heatblast looked outside his window to see that it was cloudy. Cloudy days always made him feel sleepy…

Heatblast's eyes fluttered as he tried to stay awake.

_Must…stay…focus…_

…

_Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz_

-------------------------------

Ripjaws meanwhile was outside Heatblast's dorm looking at the flowers that were growing. She bent down and smelt a nearby blue rose.

"Sniff. These flowers are prettier than the ones found in the lake. Snifffff…and they smell good too!"

She looked up to see the clouds covering the whole sky.

"The only thing missing is the sun. With a little sunlight, this place would look nice!"

Drop!

Ripjaws blinked. A rain droplet landed on her head.

Soon more droplets rain from the sky as they began to fall on the ground and the flower bed that she was looking at.

…_well…at least it is not thunder and lightning out._

CRACK!

Ripjaws jumped three feet in the air as a bolt of lightning made a thunderous noise.

----------------------

Heatblast woke up.

_Lightning._

Heatblast quickly stood up while in the process knocking over his chair.

_A storm. Not just any storm…a big one._

Heatblast ran to the window and quickly scanned the clouds.

_Could it be? Are my senses telling me correctly?_

Heatblast's eyes widened as he looked outside.

_A tornado._

----------------------------

Meanwhile, Ripjaws was outside looking at the oncoming storm.

"Sigh. Looks like it's going to rain."

Just then, Heatblast jumped out of the top floor window and landed on the ground next to Ripjaws. When Ripjaws saw Heatblast there, she gasped in surprisement not because he startled her, but because he was Heatblast.

"Heatblast!" she exclaimed.

Heatblast saw Ripjaws and said, "Ah! Ripjaws! Perfect! Wanna come on a mini-adventure with me?"

Ripjaws didn't know if Heatblast was asking her out on a date or not, but if he was, she was in heaven.

"Y-Yeah…"

"Perfect! Come with me to the Jeep!"

_Jeep…?_

Heatblast took off running, wasting no time, Ripjaws quickly followed.

A minute later, Ripjaws and Heatblast approached a hoodless Jeep. Heatblast quickly got in and opened the passenger side door for Ripjaws from his seat.

"Get in! Quick! We haven't a moment to lose!"

Wondering what kind of date this was, Ripjaws got in. She wondered why Heatblast was in such a hurry.

_Maybe he's eager to get this date started!_, her mind thought.

When she got in the rain began to beat harder and suddenly, the wind began to pick up. Heatblast quickly started the car and put it in gear.

"I didn't know you owned a car," said Ripjaws.

"I don't."

ZOOM!

The car sped off towards the storm. Leaving the campus far behind, Heatblast put the pedal to the metal.

"Heatblast?" said Ripjaws timidly.

"Yeah!" said Heatblast whose eyes were focused on the road.

"Where are we going?"

"It's a secret!"

_A secret! _thought Ripjaws, _wonder where he is taking me? Maybe to a restaurant…or an opera! That would be soooo wonderful!_

The howling wind pressed up against her ear holes as they raced across the road. Ripjaws saw up ahead that dark clouds were coming right towards them. Ripjaws wondered why the clouds were coming there way, when the wind was blowing the other way.

"Heatblast…?" said she.

"WHAT?" he yelled since he couldn't hear her due to the storm, wind and the engine roaring.

"What is…"

"CAN'T HEAR YOU! SPEAK UP!"

"I said…"

"WHAT!"  
"I SAID…"

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!

Ripjaws was thrown forward as the car came to a screeching halt. When Ripjaws recovered, she was about to ask Heatblast why he stopped when something caught her attention.

A large funnel was coming down from the clouds a mile ahead of them. At first it was clear but as it touched ground it revealed its true, brown form.

A tornado.

The tornado at first did nothing, then, it slowly went away from them. As it did, Heatblast put the car in gear and began to drive towards it.

"Heatblast…what are you doing?"

"Storm chasing."

The tornado moved faster away from them, as it did this, Heatblast drove faster. The sheer noise that was coming from the tornado was deafening.

"COME ON!" yelled Heatblast, "WHAT ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY FROM! HUH! COME BACK HERE!"

The tornado stopped.

"Oh shit," said Heatblast.

Heatblast slowly stopped and looked at the tornado. The wind howled and the tornado started heading towards them at an alarming rate.

"SHIT!"

Heatblast quickly turned the car around and started driving as fast as he could go.

Ripjaws quickly shut her eyes in desperation that all of this was a bad dream and that she was not in mortal peril.

But in the mist of doom something funny happened.

"WOOOOHOOOO!" screamed Heatblast, "THIS IS MORE EXCITING THAN AN ORGASM! WE'RE ACTUALLY BEING CHASED BY A FREAKING TORNADO! Here…take the wheel."

Ripjaws looked up.

"Wha?"

Heatblast quickly jumped out of the jeep and rolled across the ground. Ripjaws quickly took the wheel but it occurred to her that she couldn't drive.

"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!" she yelled.

Heatblast turned around and yelled back, "DON'T WORRY, YOU CAN DO IT!"

Ripjaws suddenly felt inspired, she _can _do it, and she will.

Ripjaws began to fiddle with the machine to see what it took to slow it down.

Heatblast turned around and faced the storm. With a determined look on his face he said to himself, "if I destroy the cold draft that is falling to the ground, the tornado will quickly fall apart. That will be dangerous…but I'm willing to give it a try."

The wind began to pull him towards the tornado. Heatblast held his ground but he knew he couldn't hold much longer. He must jump at the precise moment…

When the tornado was a hundred meters away, Heatblast jumped in the air. He then quickly dove himself towards the body of the tornado. The tornado quickly pulled him in and started spinning him around. He closed his eyes and began to form a fire ball. Concentrating all his power he knew what he must do. He must hit the tornado in the exact center or the attack would worthless. He opened his eyes and was about to fire when…

BAM!

A tree came whirling in and smacked him upside. The fireball when awry and shot off into the sky. Heatblast felt dazed and tried to pull himself together but it was of no use. The last fire ball was so powerful that it left him weak. He now could not defend for himself. He was going to die.

A scream.

Heatblast opened his eyes, that was Ripjaws' scream. That was the sound of someone's life that was in danger.

Someone who he brought them into this mess.

Someone who wanted to spend time with him.

This thought awoke the fiery passion of Heatblast. With the strong determination to save Ripjaws, he concentrated everything he had into his new fireball.

When he was done powering up the fireball, he quickly aimed it at the eye of the storm. Using every little bit of energy he had left, he shot the fireball into the heart of the storm.

The fireball immediately mixed with the cold draft. The fireball then shot downwards and became a warm draft. With its power supply gone, the tornado quietly floated away.

With no more winds carrying him, Heatblast fell to the ground. His body felt like passing out but his mind told it not to do so yet for Ripjaws quickly ran over to where Heatblast was lying.

Heatblast looked up to see the Crocodile looking down at him. Blood was running down her head as she smiled down upon him.

"My hero," she said.

Heatblast smiled and said, "Where's the Jeep?"

"Oh…well…it…er…crashed. I had to jump out of it before it ran into a ditch...I'm sorry Heatblast."

Heatblast weakly waved a hand and said, "No worries. Come; lie down on the grass with me. I feel like sleeping."

Ripjaws smiled again and lied down next to him. When she did so, Heatblast and Ripjaws felt happy. For after all the chaos, they can finally rest and spend some quality time together.

_This sure beats math,_ thought Heatblast.


	40. B plus

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** This event actually happened to me…though I didn't go to the extreme of what Grey Matter did. SORRY I WAS SOOOOOOOOOOO LATE! SCHOOL HAS BEEN BUSY!!!!!

**-------------------------------------**

Upgrade and Grey Matter were walking towards one of their favorite classes, Calculus.

"Sixty-nine?"

"Yes, Grey Matter," said Upgrade, "Sixty-nine. Can you please tell me why that is so funny? The other day, I heard some fellows laughing about sixty-nine, though I didn't know why it was so funny. Maybe I walked in too late on a joke. Have you heard of such a joke that involves sixty-nine?"

"…I…er…well…"

Grey Matter looked at Upgrade's face; Upgrade looked back at him eager to hear the answer.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

Upgrade shrugged and the two of them continued walking. On their way, they met up with Stinkfly, who looked sort of depressed.

"What's up Stinkfly?"

"I'm going to get my Algebra test back today, and I'm worried that I failed it.

"What a coincidence," said Upgrade, "we are getting our last Calculus test back today too."

"Of course," said Grey Matter, "_I_ will get an A+. I _always_ get an A+. I don't even need to study to get an A+."

"Shut up," said Stinkfly.

Later…

Upgrade and Grey Matter were sitting in their Calculus class. Upgrade as always was eagerly waiting to get his back. He hoped he got an A, the last test he got was a measly B-.

"Relax Upgrade," said Grey Matter who was sitting right next to him, "I bet you got an A, unlike me who probably got an A+."

Upgrade nodded.

The mushroom teacher up ahead took out a stack of papers and said, "Alright class. I'm passing back your tests from Chapter 4, I must say, I was quite pleased by everyone's result."

Grey Matter smirked.

The teacher began passing them to the classmates, he stopped by Upgrade and said to him, "very good Upgrade, you got an A."

Upgrade, in shock, took the paper and began to look at it like it was some godly art.

The teacher turned to Grey Matter and said, "You also did well Grey Matter, congratulations."

Grey Matter took the paper with both of his hands and looked at his score.

A B+ was clearly written on the top right corner of the page.

Like Upgrade, Grey Matter was in shock, but unlike Upgrade, it was a bad one.

"B+!" he yelled.

Upgrade looked over his shoulder and saw the grade, he whistled.

"Wow, that's a first, when's the last time you got a B?"

"Never…"

"Wow…that's tough, but hey! I got an A! And this A is for the both of us!"

----------

After class, Grey Matter felt terrible. Not only that, he felt like he was getting dumber, half the stuff that was taught in math class he couldn't understand. Upgrade suggested it was just him being tired but Grey Matter thought otherwise. Upgrade hadn't seen this pale since the Earth Trial.

"Don't fret about it," said Upgrade who was carrying Grey Matter to his next class, "by tomorrow, you'll forget all about it."

Grey Matter said nothing.

"Hey!" cried a voice.

The two students turned around to see a smiling Stinkfly flying towards them.

"Hey Stinkfly!" said Upgrade.

Stinkfly landed right besides them and held up her math test proudly.

"I got an A on my math test! I am so proud of myself! I was studying like hell last night, I even had to skip my daily poker tournaments! I'm glad I got this damn sonofabitch A."

Grey Matter's eyes widened as he heard this remark. Tears were forming in his large eyes as his mouth was quivering.

"I'm now going to party all night long, get drunk, get laid, and wake up in the morning in a bathroom!"

Stinkfly eagerly flew off leaving a very depressed Grey Matter.

_Later…_

Upgrade was looking at the old cafeteria lady and was complaining to her loudly.

"Now see here! I demand a refund! When I got this 5 pound battery compound I found out that somebody already emptied half of its contents! I demand a refund!"

The cafeteria lady shrugged her shoulders and said, "Tell it to the judge."

Upgrade stood as high as he could and said, "I will!"

Throwing the battery into a nearby trash can, Upgrade began to walk out of the cafeteria when a fellow student ran up to him.

"Upgrade!" he said, "Come quick! Grey Matter's about to commit suicide!"

"WHAT!?"  
Without hesitating, Upgrade and the student ran across the campus towards the math building. Upgrade and the student both stopped and looked up at the building.

There, on the top of it, was Grey Matter who was on the edge of the roof. His hands were held out and his eyes were closed.

"GREY MATTER!" shouted Upgrade.

"GOOD BYE CRUEL WORLD!" yelled Grey Matter.

Grey Matter jumped off and began to plummet to the ground head below feet. Upgrade began to run forward to catch him but knew instinctly that he couldn't reach him in time. As he watched the falling Grey Matter he thought wildly _don'tdie dont'die don'tdie don'tdie._

Grey Matter fell past the fifth floor…fourth…third…second…first…he was about to splatter onto the floor when a ghostly hand caught him.

Upgrade tripped and fell to the ground, he quickly looked up to see who caught Grey Matter.

It was Ghostfreak.

"…_Well hello Mathew. Pleasure to see you again. Now, I hope you weren't planning to end your time like I thought you were. That would be bad now wouldn't it."_

Grey Matter (who had tears in his eyes) looked up at Ghostfreak and said, "…why…did you…save…me?"

Ghostfreak's eye widened as her pupil grew smaller.

"_Let's just say, it is not your time to die yet. I do not know what high flung tragedy brought you to this. But remember this, things will always be better in the future. Even when you are treated badly, you are looked down upon and you are doing nobody any good. Just keep living because the best prize in your life is the feeling of being alive. If you are treated like a…freak…there will always be someone there for you. Someone who will make you happy and make you feel good about yourself. So wipe those tears away and let's go get a strawberry shake."_

Grey Matter began to cry profusely, "I'M…SUCH…A…FOOL! WAHHHHHH!!! T-thank you Penelope!"

Upgrade ran up to the duo and quickly grabbed Grey Matter out of Ghostfreak's hands. He wrapped his fingers around his neck and began to shake him in midair.

"YOU ASS! YOU SCARED ME TO DEATH! IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN I MIGHT AS WELL SHUT MYSELF DOWN PERMANTLY!"

Upgrade then hugged Grey Matter strongly.

"Thank the maker you are still alive!"


	41. The Sleep Walker

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** The relationships between the characters of this story are fun to do since you can do a wide range of things with them. I also like the close relationships because…well…they're cool to do. So far we have seen a pair where both know that they love each other (Heatjaws) and a pair where it is both mental and business (Ghostmatter). But there's one pair I like most of all and it has a rather sad theme to it.

**-------------------------------------**

"_Help!"_

"_Help me Diamondhead!"_

_Yang saw up ahead in the distance a huge rock pile with boulders that were the size of cars. Instinctly, he ran forward, why, he did not know. All he knew was that someone was trapped in that rock pile and he had to save her._

_The rock pile loomed large as he approached it, he then began to dig and dig for he had to save the person who was trapped in it._

"_Help me Diamondhead!" cried the now faint voice._

"_I'm trying!" he replied worriedly still digging away the rocks._

"_Don't let me die…again…" said the voice._

_The scene around him changed violently and he found himself falling through black mistiness. Voices cried out from all directions._

"_That's what comes from love…" said one._

"_They should have never met," said another._

"_He should have honored the family code."_

"_Pity she had to die."_

"…_died…"_

"…_fallen…"_

"…_attack…"_

"…_alone…"_

"…_isolation…"_

"_STOP IT!" cried Yang as he gripped his head, "STOP THE VOICES!"_

Diamondhead's eyes shot open as he awoke from the terrible dream. His whole body lurched forward and he quickly got out of bed. Breathing heavily, Diamondhead slowly sat back down. The bed creaked as his huge weight laid upon it.

"…it was all a dream…" he said to himself.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness, moonlight was flooding in through the window giving an eerie color off of the flowers. Shadows seemed big and exaggerated as if they were a threat to him. The moonlight barely lit the photograph with the yellowed eye Diamondhead and the mysterious female accompanying him.

Yang looked at the photograph and sighed.

"Why? Why do you not tell me your secrets? Why can't you rid me of these nightmares? What have I done to deserve such harsh treatment?"

The photograph said nothing.

"Is it _her_? Is it her that is doing me these horrific things?"

The photograph said nothing.

"Is it me liking her angered you? Have I upset you?"

The photograph said nothing.

Yang put his face in his hands and mumbled, "I wish I knew."

For those of you wondering where Yin is, he is still sleeping in Diamondhead's head. Blissfully unaware of the nightmares that Yang's been having.

Diamondhead looked out in the cool night and muttered, "I need to take a walk."

So he took off his pajama robe and slipped on his slippers. He grabbed a coat and put it on his big hulking body. Without making a sound, he exited his room and softly walked down the hallway of the dorm. Pushing away the doors, he entered into the outside world.

The wind howled against him as it blew its steady gusts. He hunkered down slightly and began to walk forward at a steady pace. But he stopped; he got the feeling that someone was watching him. It was as if he was a target for a hunter and he was ready to be shot down. He quickly looked around but found nobody there; he shrugged and told himself that it was nothing. After an hour of walking around the quiet campus he decided that he should go back to bed and sleep in a little so he would feel fine in the morning. As he was returning to the dorm he saw something straight ahead that made his feet froze.

XLR8 was apparently walking towards him…slowly…in her blue starred pajamas.

"…XLR8?" he said slowly.

XLR8 did not respond to his comment, in fact it seemed like she didn't even know he was there. She just kept walking on forward in her slow pace. The only sound she did made was that of a soft snore that came out in short hisses.

Yang placed his hand on his chin and stroked it softly, "so she's a sweep walker eh?"

Diamondhead quietly walked up to the sweep walker and stopped her gently with his gloves. She stopped but she continued to snore very sweetly.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Yang whispered, "you could hurt yourself if you continue on like this. Let's get you back to bed."

Through the foggy snores came her voice, "…yesssss…daddy…"

Taking each arm in his hand, he gently guided her forward through the pale night.

With her hand in his, he began to remember many memories of them together in the library…studying. At first these studies would be short and not very long, but soon, they studied more and more together in the library. In fact, the librarian had to check every once in awhile to make sure that they weren't making out like bad little teenagers.

With each passing hour, he liked XLR8 more and more until he couldn't stop thinking about her. The hours seemed to creep by without her and he seemed not motivated to do any work any more. Yin saw this and began to panic that something was wrong with Yang, Yang reassured Yin that he was okay and that he was just tired that's all.

XLR8 made a soft grunt and continued on sleeping. Slowly though, he continued forward through the night, the female dorm looming up ahead as he walked to it.

"Almost there XLR8," he said again in a whisper.

As they were walking, Yang began to feel sad again. He might like her a lot, but she doesn't like him as much. She only finds him a role model to look up to. Besides, ever since she found out that Diamondhead had two personalities…she has tried to stay far away from him.

Diamondhead stopped, so did XLR8.

"…they should have never met…" said Yang softly remembering the dream.

The wind howled once more as it pushed him towards the dorm. He sighed, and took XLR8's hand once more.

"…come XLR8…otherwise you'll catch a cold…"

"…yesssss…daddy…" she said ever so softly.

The two figures entered the dorm and all was silent once more.

Clank…clank…clank…

Out of the shadows of a nearby building walked out a tall robot. The robot tilted its head a bit and analyzed the scene it had just seen. Slowly, he walked back into the darkness.


	42. In the Woods

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** not really an important chapter, just a filler. This chapter sucks by the way but just read it and don't comment on it.

**-------------------------------------**

The sound of oboes and trumpets rang throughout the forest as Four Arms was training. Not the real instruments mind you, just a recording from a boom box.

"Fool!" yelled Wildvine who was dressed in a sailor's outfit, "your not letting the beat _flow_ through you. You must _feel_ the pounding of the drums and strength of the trombones! Otherwise, you will not become a great fighter in music!"

"Sorry Sensei!" said Four Arms repeatedly bowing, "I'll make sure to keep that in mind!"

"Enough! I do not want to hear your excuses! It brings dismal headaches to my aching head!"

Wildvine began to massage his temples with his long fingers.

"Take five Four Arms, and this time do not wander off."

"Yes, Sensei!" said Four Arms bowing once more.

Up above in the trees was Stinkfly who was viewing the training site. She has been watching Four Arms trained for the past two months now, curious to see if he is getting better in fighting. Before hand, she thought that this ballet fighting style thing was just a big joke and a waste of time, but now she's having second thoughts. Sometimes, Wildvine would train him with defensive positions and sometimes he would train him to meditate on a certain subject for hours. She could tell that Four Arms was getting better with the ways of fighting fast.

Why was she spying on him? She didn't really know herself, perhaps it is to see how he is doing with his training or perhaps she is bored and wants to see someone do something entertaining.

Perhaps she just wants to see him.

Stinkfly quickly shook this out of her head. She didn't want to have a close relationship with anybody. That is the way of the warrior, be cold, merciless and no emotion whatsoever.

Down below, Four Arms said, "Sensei, would you like an aspirin for your headache?"

"No thank you Four Arms, this headache requires sheer patience to be rid of."

But…

Four Arms was a kind and stubborn person. He can be arrogant sometimes but he's not racist or sexist like Heatblast is and he is not pompous like Grey Matter is. He is not cruel like DCELR8 was and he is not pervert.

Plus he is strong and a prince.

Stinkfly shook her head once more.

_Got to get all of these ideas out of my head!_

Stinkfly's watch beeped and Stinkfly looked at it. She gasped realizing what time it was.

_Shit! I got to get to my poker meetings fast!_

Without hesitating, she flew off into the distance.

When she was gone, Four Arms said to Wildvine, "That's like the…twentieth time she has spied on us."

Wildvine got out a cup of hot tea and began to sip it, "You should ask her out, I bet she would like that."

Four Arms quickly turned around and looked Wildvine squarely in the eye, "Sensei! Will you please stop telling me that! She is _not_ my girlfriend! Besides…she doesn't like me…"

"Au contraire. Why do you think she has been spying on us?"

Four Arms shrugged, "I don't know, maybe she just likes to see me train…"

Wildvine quickly stood back up, "why are we talking about relationships! Now see here, Four Arms, you should stop bringing up conversations like these! It really ruins our training mood!"

With his long fingers he pressed play on the tape recorder machine.

"Remember now, let the music _flow_ through you."


	43. Heatblast says goodbye

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Merry Christmas! This should be one of my favorite chapters. Just a side note, I added two chapters up at the same time so you should go back to the previous chapter and read that too.

**-------------------------------------**

_Several months ago…_

_After class got out, Heatblast went to see Cannon Bolt since he asked him to see him after school._

"_You wanted to see me Sir?" said Heatblast._

"_Yes, Heatblast I did, I want to ask you how good of a fighter you are."_

_Heatblast was taken aback from this comment, "excuse me Sir?"_

"_You heard me, how good can you fight?"_

_Heatblast struck out his chest and said boastfully, "I am the best fighter on this Campus. Not even Diamondhead can match up to my excellent skills! I can bring down a horde of robot insects in less then one minute."_

"_I see…" said Cannon Bolt slowly taking off his glasses, "in that case…"_

_Cannon Bolt took out a small slip of paper and began to write something down, he ripped it out and handed it to Heatblast. Heatblast looked down to see that there was a date and a side note to it._

"_I want you to give that to your counselor," said Cannon Bolt getting up from his chair, "that is the day where you shall leave this camp for awhile with me to do some training."_

"_Training!" exclaimed Heatblast._

And that is why today, Heatblast was packing up.

He began to walk eagerly around the room in excitement, the note that Cannon Bolt gave to him several months ago was in his hand.

"Training…me!" he said in amazement, "he probably wanted to improve my already great skills. Me…being trained…by the great Cannon Bolt! I will be a star! I will be famous!"

Heatblast stopped walking.

"Maybe…he wants _me_ to train _him!_ Yeah…that's it! I bet he found my pawnage skills so great that he is begging for me to teach him."

While Heatblast was lost in thought, a deep voice brought him back to reality.

"Attention!"

Heatblast stood straight up; he turned around and saw Cannon Bolt there.

"S-Sir! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to prove to me that your I.Q. is lower than I previously thought."

With his pride hurt, Heatblast said, "I got my briefcase packed Sir."

"Good, the spacecraft will be here in about thirty minutes. I'll take your briefcase there for you, please say any last minute goodbyes for your friends. When you are done, head to the docking area of the campus.

"Right!"

Heatblast gave him a salute which Cannon Bolt replied. When Cannon Bolt left, Heatblast turned around and began to look for something in his desk. After a minute of searching, he pulled out a group of lily flowers that were in a vase.

_This should be a wonderful parting gift for my dear Ripjaws,_ he thought.

He smelt the flowers deeply and began to set out to find Ripjaws.

----------

Meanwhile, at the lake, Ripjaws was waiting for Heatblast. She knew that he was leaving today and she wanted to make the most of it. Every few minutes, she would jump out of the lake to see if he was there only to be disappointed that he wasn't.

While she was lazily swimming around waiting for him to come, Cuttooth swam up to her.

"What are you doing my love?" said he.

Ripjaws hesitated, "I'm waiting for Heatblast to come say goodbye to me, he is leaving on a trip and he will be gone for a month."

Cuttooth growled, "You have been seeing this guy a lot this past couple of months."

"I-It's because we are friends…I like to hang out with my friends…"

Cuttooth quickly raised his hand, and with one swooping motion he slapped Ripjaws across the cheek. Ripjaws head twisted to the side as her, her thoughts paralyzed at what he had just done.

"BITCH!" he yelled, anger flowing through him, "you're my hoe! You got to keep that in you messed up head of yours! I don't want you to hang out with your new "friend" anymore!"

With quick movement, he grabbed on to her, holding on to her so she wouldn't get away with one arm, he used the other to search her pockets. Out he pulled her water orb, the very thing that makes her able to survive on land.

He took the water orb in his hand and grasped it very tightly, with all his might he threw it out of the lake and onto shore. It bounced once, then rolled to a stop on the muddy ground.

"I want you to be near me more often," he said, "I _like_ your presence here. You'll thank me in the future when you realize what a good deed I have done for you. Away from…_him_."

"Ripjaws?" cried a voice from above the waters.

Both of them looked up to see Heatblast looking for Ripjaws.

"Heatblast?" said Ripjaws softly.

Without hesitating, she propelled herself forward to him. But as she grew nearer to him, the water grew warmer and the sunlight and Heatblast's heat grew stronger. She began to weaken as she headed to the surface.

Though she was still underwater, her whole body began to hurt more and more due to the UV Rays as she got closer and closer to the surface. She was only mere feet away from the surface and a few meters away from Heatblast when her body exploded with pain from the heat.

She stopped.

"Ripjaws?" cried Heatblast once more.

With tears in her eyes, she tried to get closer but her body wouldn't permit her to do so. She just staid there, motionless in the water, her body yelling in pain. With tears flowing down her face, she watched her loved one, helpless to tell him why she couldn't see him right now.

After a minute of waiting, Heatblast gave up and walked off solemnly into the distance. Ripjaws gave a great big sob and swam back down to the bottom of the lake.

Cuttooth was waiting for her, "have you come back to apologize to me yet?"

Ripjaws looked at him, she then began to cry more heavily and swam away from him.

------------

At the loading docks of the campus, Heatblast met up with Cannon Bolt.

"So Heatblast," said Cannon Bolt as he was walking with Heatblast, "did you say goodbye to all your friends."

Heatblast looked at him and said, "not everybody."


	44. The Love Gun

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Happy Valentines Day!!

---------

"Eureka!!"

With his small arms, Grey Matter lifted up an action-figure sized rifle gun. But it wasn't just any type of gun. This one was decorated with switches and levers and buttons and whatnot. Grey Matter smiled broadly at his new creation.

"Grey Matter, you are a superb genius. You have really out done yourself this time."

Upgrade, who was doing his homework before Grey Matter started making his prideful noises, looked up and said, "whatcha make this time Grey Matter?"

"This, my fine friend, is a very special type of rifle that deals with the power of love! Take note: it doesn't actually make love but it enhances the emotion of desire. The emotion of desire is in my opinion the same thing as love since love mates desire one another. This is the way it works: there is a keyboard at the butt of the rifle, you type in the name of the desired object and then aim it at an organism. After you shoot your prey with this gun, the prey's emotion of desire will be off the charts and he/she will soon be falling for your choice of object. I call it, the Love Gun!"

The sound of an animal chirping outside caught Grey Matter's attention, he looked to see that it was one of the local inhabitants of this planet, a bat-sized lizard with a large set of wings and proto-feathers all over it.

"Ah, my first prey!" said Grey Matter with an evil grin, he turned to Upgrade and said, "Say you want this Thornis (that was the name of the creature) to fall in love with a certain thing…say…an automobile! I type in automobile on here…then… I raise the rifle and then I shoot my prey!"

After typing in automobile, Grey Matter raised the rifle and shot at the Thornis, the rifle made a sound like a clarinet and then out shot a greenish laser beam. The beam landed squarely on its target and the wing seemed to absorb the laser. The Thornis squawked and flew off. Upgrade made a gasping sound but Grey Matter assured him.

"Do not worry!" he said with a light skip in his voice, "the beam took him off guard, he was only surprised by it, now watch my friend…watch the pretty birdie…"

Upgrade and Grey Matter leaned towards the window to see the Thornis land back down on the ground. It seemed dazed and confused by the way it was staggering around on the sidewalk. But then it steadied itself and did not move for a moment, then, quick to its claws, its head started swiveling around as if it was looking for something. The head quickly stopped moving and located what it wanted, its wings spread outwards and the lizard took off towards a direction of an automobile. The lizard landed on the automobile and began to caress the headlights with its head.

"SUCCESS!" yelled Grey Matter when he saw this. Now with an evil look in his eye he began to snicker maliciously, "heheheheheheheheeee…now let's go find some _real_ targets."

Upgrade looked uncertain, "Uh, Grey Matter? Do you think it is wise to tamper with the laws of emotions? That's a pretty dangerous thing to do…"

"DANGEROUS?" said Grey Matter getting uncontrollably excited, "I'm a scientist damnit! I'm suppose to cross over boundaries, walk over great hills and go where no one has gone before! Now come on! Let's go cause some mischief!"

Upgrade looked at Grey Matter and then to his homework, fearing for Grey Matter's safety more than for his need to do homework, Upgrade agreed.

Once outside the dorm, Grey Matter suited up with a pair of sunglasses, sitting on Upgrade's shoulder, he said quietly, "help me find a potential victim."

Upgrade really did not want to do this but he said, "alright how about…"

Upgrade's eye scanned the view point, students were walking around heading to many different activities and classes, any one of these students could cause chaos if they were in "love" with something. His eye then saw Blizzard.

Blizzard and Upgrade had still not talked to each other since the incident in Sir Cannonbolt's room, the two personalities clashed so tremendously that they hated each other's guts. Blizzard was frustrated that Upgrade was the only man that she was not able to control and Upgrade was frustrated on how she dealt his own sex.

"Blizzard…" he said mostly to himself still looking at her.

"Blizzard eh?" said Grey Matter looking at the beautiful ice queen, "Muhahahahaa…everyone loves Blizzard what if Blizzard…loved me? HA! I would live like a king! Blizzard it is!"

Grey Matter was about to type in his name into the keyboard but then he stopped, "no…" he said, "what would really be funny would be that we would type in pastry…and that after we shoot her with the Love Gun…she would have an enormous craving for bakery goods! Imagine how many pastries she could eat!!! She would be fat by the end of this week! Muhahahahahahaha….that would put a dent in _her _life."

"No," said Upgrade.

"What? What do you mean no?"

"She-she doesn't deserve it."

"Please?"

"No."

"Hmph. Fine…"

Blizzard walked behind a building and she was out of sight.

But just as she was walking out of sight, round the bend of a nearby sidewalk comes XLR8 walking around wearing her same old dress attire, carrying the same heavy books.

"What if…" said Grey Matter, "we made someone else fall in love with XLR8?"

"Fine by me."

"Perfect! Let me adjust the Love Gun and then we'll shoot an unsuspecting male."

Grey Matter rose the Love Gun and aimed at a short, green alien with bug like eyes. He fired the rifle, and the rifle made that clarinet sound again and fired the greenish laser. The laser hit the alien squarely on the head and he fell down to the ground due to being surprised; he wobbled back to his feet again and seemed as dazed and confused as the Thornis once was. He then saw XLR8 and ran over to her.

Though neither Grey Matter nor Upgrade could hear what was going on, they saw everything as plainly as they could see the bright sun.

At first XLR8 did not notice the green alien following her, but after awhile, she swiveled her head slightly and saw that she was being followed. Quickening her pace and ignoring him, she continued on. However, she looked back and saw that he was still there, with swiftness, she stopped and turned around. She then asked him something but he didn't respond. She said something else and waited for his reply. This time, the alien began to talk slowly with an odd look in his eye. XLR8 looked offended by whatever he said and then looked paralyzed. She said something and the alien responded to her with the same dumb look. XLR8 now looked scared and she took off running as fast as she could. Chasing behind her was the alien yelling out, "Come back my pudding buns!"

"MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" laughed Grey Matter after viewing the scene, "It's fun to torture XLR8!"

"Are you done having fun yet?" said Upgrade.

"Not yet! There's still much prey to hunt out! Think of all the possibilities of the Love Gun! Sworn enemies will do our every whim, teachers will worship us like gods, we will live like kings!"

"Okay…now you're beginning to sound like Blizzard…"

"Ah, but she abused her power, and we will not do any such thing. We're using the Love Gun just for mischief."

"_A Love Gun…is that what you have invented this time Mathew?_" said a creepy voice.

Upgrade jumped causing Grey Matter to fall of his shoulder and onto the ground; he turned around and knew before even seeing her who that voice was.

"Hello Ghostfreak," said Upgrade warily.

"_Good day Upgrade, good day Mathew,_" said Ghostfreak.

Grey Matter quickly stood back up and brushed himself, he tipped his head and said, "good day Penelope. And yes! This is my new invention! It's called a Love Gun! Simply put: it makes people fall in love with other people. It superbly works!"

"_Can you show me?_"

"Why yes! What you do is that you first type in the name of the thing that is going to be loved say…me…" Grey Matter typed his name into the gun, "and then you aim it at the victim and that unlucky fellow will have fallen in love with your choice."

Grey Matter suddenly accidentally pulled the trigger of the gun. The gun made a small clarinet sound and then it shot its greenish laser at Ghostfreak. The laser landed squarely on her chest. Grey Matter and Upgrade gasped at what just happened.

"Penelope!" said Grey Matter.

Grey Matter then realized that he typed in his name into the gun right before he shot it, his mind began to run at the thought of what was going to happen to Ghostfreak.

Ghostfreak blinked, she shook her head and said, "_I'm okay Mathew do not worry, the gun must have not affected me._"

"What?" said Grey Matter looking stunned, "but but…it should have worked…"

Grey Matter was thinking hard for why the gun did not work on Ghostfreak for the rest of the day but he could not figure it out.

He just didn't get it.


	45. The Trip to Arburian Pelarota

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I'll be telling the plans for the new alien "Benwolf" on Thursday. In the mean time, enjoy the chapter!

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Somewhere, out in deep space, was a spaceship traveling at hyper speed. It only carried a few passengers and it wasn't a very big spaceship. It was a private owned craft that was long and green with blue wings and a black tail. Spray painted in faint red letters was the word "Thunderbolt 21" and in much smaller letters were the words "as gift from the mighty republic of Arburian Pelarota." Many battle scars could be seen on the ship, as it had a tarnished wing, small parts of the shell missing and the antenna wire missing.

Inside the ship, a tall, blue robot was rolling towards the cockpit area of the ship. Its name was B.U.T.L.E.R, and he was one of Cannon Bolt's favorite servant robots. In his left hand was a glass of green tea with several ice cubes in it. B.U.T.L.E.R's squeaky wheel reverberated across the long narrow hallways of the ship. The robot stopped at the cockpit's door and knocked.

"Come in," said Cannon Bolt.

The robot opened the door and wheeled in, Cannon Bolt rotated his chair around and took of his spectacles.

"Ah! B.U.T.L.E.R! How are you doing?"

The robot beeped once which meant he was doing alright.

"Very good, very good," replied Cannon Bolt as he took the drink off of B.U.T.L.E.R. He smelt the tea under his nose and said with a heavenly sigh, "ah….tea from the planet of Swampus. Only the best kind of tea in the galaxy. Thank you B.U.T.L.E.R."

The robot beeped and rolled out of the cockpit.

Cannon Bolt took a small sip from his tea and stood in thought. He then turned around and sat back down at his cockpit chair. He bent over and picked up a book that he had been reading before he was interrupted. He didn't have to worry about flying the ship since right now it was on automatic pilot; this meant he could have a lot of free time by himself. He looked at the cover of the book once more just to see its vibrant image.

The cover of the book showed a large red flag that was waving in the wind; on the violently red flag was the picture of a sickle crossing over a sledgehammer. Right above the picture of the flag was the title "Communist Manifesto," and right below the picture were the words "by Karl Marx."

Even though hardly any humans on Earth know that aliens exist in outer space, they still had a very profound affect on the galaxy. Their many ideas had spread across the galaxy causing aliens to think, and thinking caused them to do very profound things that no one has done before. The most influential of them all was the "Communist Manifesto," a book that was made by Karl Marx and his idea on communism. He had an idea that the working class of the people should violently overthrow the government and in its place make a People's Republic government. Of course, there was more than just that, but that was the basic idea. Nevertheless, this idea has caused mass rebellions across the galaxy, head leaders were being assassinated and whole governments were on the verge of falling apart.

Cannon Bolt was curious on what the fuss was about so he decided to read it; however, after reading the first couple of pages, he didn't really see what was so special about it.

The telephone rang.

Cannon Bolt gave it an odd look, who would be calling him?

With his teddy bear like hand, he picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Mr. Bolt?" replied a voice.

"Yeah?"

"You wanted me to call you about Weapon Tick and its progress."

"Very well soldier, you may proceed."

"Well…the Mechanical Biologists are having trouble making the heart of the creature. They say that the creature is too large for size and the heart would be in danger of collapsing from its own weight. Also, Lord Vilgax said that he would personally inspect the creature in about one month, he said that he hopes there has been ample progress on the weapon. If there has not been any, he said that he would take away all donations to the project."

"So problems as usual eh?" said Cannon Bolt.

"Er…right sir."

"Very good, very good, is there anything else to report soldier?"

"Not at this moment, though I will keep you updated if anything new has happened."

"Very good, very good," Cannon Bolt repeated, "thanks for calling."

Cannon Bolt hung up the telephone and gave a rather large sigh.

A year ago, Cannon Bolt was issued the assignment of leading a group of scientists that would be making the next Weapon of Mass Destruction. Instead of just destroying countries, it would have the power to destroy planets. It was called Weapon Tick by the way it destroyed the planet that it was on. So far, the project wasn't doing so well.

After an hour's work of reading, Cannon Bolt began to doze off when all of a sudden; the ship's computer intercom came on.

"Now arriving at Arburian Pelarota."

Cannon Bolt's eyes lazily looked out the window to see his home planet there. Its lush greenery and blue oceans gave off a beautiful appearance that could make other aliens jealous. As it loomed larger and larger, another voice came on this time, from the planet itself.

"Mission Control room from the city Dillian requesting name and purpose of the ship Thunderbolt 21, over."

Cannon Bolt grabbed the microphone and said, "This is Cannon Bolt speaking requesting permission to land ship. State of purpose is to see my home again and to train a warrior. Over."

"Roger that, you are clear for landing, please wait while we prepare for your landing. Over."

Cannon Bolt got out of his chair and stretched, after sipping his tea, he walked to the door and walked down the hallway of the ship. He walked up to a door and pushed the button to open it. The door made a small whooshing sound and he walked in.

There, he found Heatblast on his fire-proof bed looking up at the ceiling. When Cannon Bolt walked in Heatblast turned his head and said, "don't tell me we're here already…"

Cannon Bolt nodded, "get your stuff and get to the airlock door in five minutes. Your training is about to begin."

Heatblast jumped up and nodded, "I'm ready for anything!"

Cannon Bolt would bet his right arm that Heatblast wasn't going to be prepared at all for what he had in store for him but he didn't say anything. He just nodded and walked back to the control room. He got back just in time, for the voice on the intercom said, "Roger that Thunderbolt 21, you are clear for landing, over."

Cannon Bolt grabbed the microphone and said, "thank you Command Center, over and out."

Cannon Bolt entered some coordinates into the computer and then pushed autopilot; the craft lurched forward towards the planet. Cannon Bolt then sat back down on the chair and strapped himself in. As the spacecraft plunged down the atmosphere, the craft began to shake violently. Cannon Bolt knew that the craft would hold since she went through tougher strain before hand. Once the craft passed through the outer layer of the atmosphere, Cannon Bolt unbuckled himself and headed to the airlock door.

There, standing with his gear, was Heatblast looking pumped.

"Now listen to me very carefully," said Cannon Bolt while he was approaching Heatblast, "I'm only going to say this once. I'm going to drop you off somewhere near the vicinity of my house. I'm going to give you a map and a GPS device for you to help you find your way back. Okay?"

Heatblast nodded.

"Right, here is the map, here is the GPS and here is the inflatable raft."

Heatblast looked at the things he got oddly.

"Uh…sir? This map is not of this planet, this GPS device has no batteries and why do I need an inflatable raft?"

Without responding to this, Cannon Bolt opened the airlock door. The door slowly opened and a blast of wind came with it. Heatblast looked out and saw that they were above an ocean.

"WHAT! I HAVE TO FIND MY WAY THROUGH THE FREAKING OCEAN?" yelled Heatblast.

Not saying anything about this comment, Cannon Bolt kicked Heatblast out of the spacecraft and closed the door. For awhile, he just stood there looking bored. He then turned around and decided to find B.U.T.L.E.R. to see if he could make him some more tea.


	46. Broken Leg

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** HAPPY ONE YEAR ANIVERSITY!!! Check out my Home Page on Fanfiction to see about this story! I will talk about its past, what is its present condition and what will be in store for the future! Please read it!

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_Damn broken leg, why did I have to do a sssstupid thing and break it?_

In the hospital on the second floor, XLR8 was lying in bed. She was completely bored due to the fact that her left leg was broken and she didn't have anything to do. The only thing she had to read was her Calculus book, and no matter how nerdy you are, even that could get boring after several hours of reading it.

All the light bulbs were turned off and the only source of light came in from the window from the setting sun. Its red shine made the room lit up faintly. XLR8 was staring up at the ceiling while her broken leg was being held up by the support.

Despite what you might think, XLR8 did not break her leg from a fight or from a squabble. She did not break it for being honorable or for being selfless; she broke it for being stupid.

It happened like this, a week ago, XLR8 was walking through one of the school buildings and was not looking where she was going, the books that she was carrying were stacked so high that they covered her view. Needless to say, she did not see the stairs in front of her and she fell down them only to come to a stop at the bottom. When she recovered from this fall, she found out her leg was broken.

"Cursesssss!" yelled XLR8 all of a sudden making her bed rock gently.

She made a sulking face as she continued to stare up at the ceiling.

Someone at the door knocked.

"Come in," said XLR8.

Opening the door and ducking his head so he wouldn't hit the frame, in walked Four Arms. He was holding flowers that were in a small vase.

"Hello XLR8, are you feeling any better?"

"Teh, no. My leg hassss been broken for a week and I sssstill haven't got out of thissss infernal prison!"

Four Arms just smiled and nodded his head, "at least you still have your personality, even if your pride is a bit wounded."

XLR8 tried to sit up but she couldn't but she still yelled, "If it wasn't for thisss damn cast I would kick your assssss!"

"Thank you for agreeing with me…here…I brought you some flowers. I hope they cheer you up a bit…"

Four Arms placed the flowers on the counter that was next to her bed, XLR8 didn't saying anything, she didn't even look at him.

"I know you don't really respect my opinion very much…but I hope you get better."

XLR8 was silent for a moment and then said, "thank you."

Both were quiet for a moment, Four Arms then took out his backpack and unzipped it. He pulled out some sheets of paper and said, "I took the liberty of finding out your assignments, everyone in your classes miss you and hope that you get better."

XLR8 snorted, "I sssseriously doubt that."

Four Arms scratched the back of his head, he then said, "Do you want me to do anything for you? Should I prop you up or fluff your pillow or-"

"You can shut up."

Four Arms stopped talking and said, "…oh…"

Again, Four Arms and XLR8 were silent, then, Four Arms said, "Well…I hope you feel better XLR8."

XLR8 didn't say anything.

"And I hope your leg heals soon."

Again, XLR8 didn't say anything.

"And I hope to see you in class again; in fact Grey Matter, Upgrade and I want to see you in class again. If there is anybody that wants you back…it's us…well…good night."

Four Arms turned around and was heading to the door; he opened it when XLR8 said, "Prince Four Armsss?"

Four Arms stopped and twisted his body a bit. XLR8 was still not staring at him but he knew she wanted to say something, "yeah?"

"Thank you."

Four Arms smiled, "Your welcome, and please, call me Four Arms, we're friends, not strangers."

Four Arms closed the door and the room got a little bit darker.

XLR8 began to feel sleepy but her eyes were still wide open. Her mind was slowly thinking.

For many years, XLR8 loved Four Arms more than she let on, she didn't want to tell him anybody that because it might have made her look weak. So for most of her life, she has kept her small feeling a secret. Nevertheless, she watched over him like a mother over her son. She wanted him to be alright and not to do stupid things, even though he is a doctor. Sometimes, he thinks on impulse and other times he does stupid things for the hell of it. She made sure that he always had four arms, and not three.

And her feelings for the other boys, Grey Matter and Upgrade, were almost as strong as the one for Four Arms. She can't help but want to take care of Upgrade since he is childlike in the way of the world. His naïve personality will soon bite him hard once he finds the evils of the galaxy. She will hate the day when that will happen. And Grey Matter is even more of a problem then Four Arms. His small size will be the death of her, he is so liable to be killed and yet he thinks nothing about it. The problem is, he thrills for danger and this just makes XLR8 sweat in nervousness.

Now she was on the end of being taken care of. And she didn't like the feeling of being helpless and being a dead weight, the mere thought of it twisted her gut.

XLR8 sighed.

And then a thought came into her head.

She saw an image of Diamondhead looking at her, smiling brightly with his diamond teeth.

Diamondhead, he was strong and reliable. He could take care of himself and still have time for other people's feelings and opinions. He was smart and headstrong, he thought before he acted and he could always be counted upon. She didn't need to worry about him.

If it wasn't for his damn split personality.

The fact that he has a completely different person within him made XLR8 want to cry.

The perfect boyfriend is dashed to bits. Diamondhead is a walking liar. You never know what he will say one minute or the next. He could change his personality quickly and get away with things. One doesn't know how Diamondhead thinks and feels for he is ever changing and ever silent.

And he argues with himself.

In the middle of the night, XLR8 can hear voices coming from Diamondhead's room. No one else is speaking except him, for he is talking to himself. Sometimes, he argues loudly and sometimes he talks so softly she can never hear him.

She is worried that one day, he'll snap.

A silent tear rolled down XLR8's face as she looked up the ceiling. As the sun set behind the mountains going to bed, XLR8 fell asleep.


	47. In the Forest

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Sorry this took awhile, man have I been busy! Anyways, this chapter is really not that important, I just felt like writing about a certain character that has got any real screentime.

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Deep within the forests of the Mineralists Academy, a hunter stalks his prey. Lying in the underbrush of the forest was Wildmutt. The crisscrossing branches and the tall, brown grasses made him camouflaged into the darkness. The breathing of his lungs were quiet and the soft smelling of his nose was even more so. His paws were firmly planted on the ground and stood there like a great god. The wind twisted and turned through the forest as it brushed over him, bringing in a mixture of scents from a variety of different sources. The decaying body of a frog, the perfume like smell of a flower, the dank must of a leaf, the scent of a large herbivore.

Wildmutt's body tensed as his ears began to pinpoint the location of this herbivore, a difficult task that was but no small feet that Wildmutt couldn't handle. Forests had a bad habit of absorbing sound and bringing up a cacophony of noises of its own. Wildmutt had to shift through that useless sound and find that herbivore he was looking for.

There, northwest, two hundred meters, he found it…no…there wasn't one herbivore…there were two. He didn't pick up the second one because it was a small signal and it blended nice and evenly with the larger one. Wildmutt deduced that the smaller signal was coming from a baby and the larger signal was coming from its mother. Wildmutt's stomach growled with hunger as he thought of the tender meat and rich fat babies carried. He wanted one, badly. But that was easier said than done, mothers of the reed species were fully protective of their young, it would be easy catching the baby, but it would be harder with the mother in the way.

With careful ease, Wildmutt began to creep through the forest, getting closer and closer to the target. He wanted to conserve his energy, when he got close to his prey, then he'll strike. After fifteen minutes of slowly walking, Wildmutt was mere meters away from the reed. He was correct; there was a mother and a baby. The mother reed stood six feet tall and had large, piercing eyes. Every so often, her tall, smooth head would rise up to check for predators and then would resume to eating. Wildmutt's legs tensed, he had one chance, and he better not mess it up.

With the mother's head lowered back down, Wildmutt leapt into action. Charging out of the forest and into the clearing, he began to race toward the startled mother and her offspring. Before the mother could fully react to Wildmutt and protect her baby, Wildmutt dashed to the baby, grabbed the small neck of it and began to bite hard down upon it. He heard the unmistakable sound of the creature's neck snapping, where once the baby was flinging its limbs trying to escape the jaws of death now hung limp.

The mother roared in anger and came charging forward to try to scare off Wildmutt. Wildmutt though knew better. He quickly jumped to the side with the baby still clutched in his jaws and began to run away from the enraged mother. Using his strength, he took the baby and he climbed up a rather large tree, after passing several boughs, he got to a good size bough and jumped upon it. The mother was still down on the ground trying to get her dead baby back. Wildmutt didn't worry about her since she couldn't climb trees. Licking his chops, he began to devour the creature.

After the successful hunt, Wildmutt walked for an hour before he finally sat down by a lake where he began to drink from it. When he was done with his drinking, Wildmutt lifted his head and was about to leave when a low, throaty voice called his name.

"Wildmutt!"

Wildmutt stopped. He turned around to see Ripjaws head poking out of the water near the shore.

"Come here," she said.

Wildmutt approached her cautiously, unsure of what she wanted from him.

When he stopped at the water's edge, Ripjaws threw him a bottle with a note in it.

"Take this to your master, and hurry!"

Wildmutt hesitated for a moment, but he heard the distinct fear that resided within Ripjaws tone. Knowing that bringing the bottle to Four Arms was very important, Wildmutt lowered his head and picked up the bottle, he then sprung off to where his master usually lived. Ripjaws, after seeing him bound off, lowered her head into the murky waters.

After running for fifteen minutes, Wildmutt finally stopped at Four Arms little home.

For over a year, Four Arms has lived deep in the forest so that no one would disturb him and that he could live by himself. The Tetramand within him demanded the need to live in the wild and so he answered it by hunting, fishing, and using nature's limited materials. Never once since he got here, has he lived on cafeteria food, slept on a real bed or used toilet paper. For all his life he has lived as a prince, high class and getting whatever he wanted except to be by himself. Now, away from his tyrannical home, he has left the modern world and lived with nature.

When Wildmutt found the clearing in which Four Arms lived in, he bounded to his master who was sitting on a chair reading a medical book. Wildmutt ran right up to him and dropped the bottle onto his lap. Four Arms was at first surprised by this gesture but he set his book down and said, "Is this for me?"

Wildmutt nodded vigorously. He hoped his master would get the idea to open it.

Four Arms slowly bent down and picked up the bottle, he looked at it and said, "You wanna play fetch boy? Is that it? Do you? Do you? Of course!"

Four Arms pulled back his arm and unleashed the bottle with all his might, somewhere off in the distance, the bottle landed onto the damp forest ground.

Wildmutt was surprised at what his Master just did. He didn't want his Master to throw the bottle; he wanted him to _open_ the bottle. Wildmutt looked off into the distance at where the bottle was thrown and he sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought it would be.


	48. Eyeguy and Ditto

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Well I'm back! After enough quests from several people, I decided to continue the series. However! Be warned for it is now an alternate universe fan fic. As recent events in the episodes has made all of this not believable. But that's okay right? Right! Now, be warned, this chapter is my longest chapter yet and probably my most complicated. Try to keep track of all the characters and there whereabouts!

Enjoy!

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In the darkness, Ditto was hunting for something valuable.

He was in a bedroom that was not his, in a building that he did not live in, and was about to search through a cabinet that he did not owned. No, he was in the girl's dormitory looking for a special treasure.

His eyes had grown used to the surrounding darkness. He could see the dim outline of the cabinet in front of him, a window to his right where moonlight gave him some light. He also knew that there was a bed behind him where a girl was sleeping. He had to be quiet in order to make sure that she did not awake.

Slowly, he approached the cabinet and opened the drawers. Sifting through them with his smooth hands, he grabbed the treasured items and stuffed them into his pants pocket.\

"Jackpot!" he said to himself.

Stinkfly gave a small grunt but did not stir. Realizing his small blunder Ditto made himself extra quiet in order to not be heard.

He then tripped over a bottle of beer.

He fell to the floor with a large crash and quickly got back up. However, his error had been made.

Stinkfly awoke with a start and screamed, "WHOSE THERE?"

Ditto did not make a sound.

He heard rustling from her bed and he heard her turning on a flashlight. The light beam, hit his feet but thankfully, not his head.

"Got to go!" he said cheerfully.

He ran down the hallway as fast as he could. The screams that had came from Stinkfly's room began to awake the other girls that were sleeping next to her room. As he was running, he could hear more and more shouts erupt from the rooms behind him. Forcing himself to not look behind him, he ran faster. At the end of the hallway were stairs that led down to the second floor. Skidding to a stop in front of them, he quickly grabbed the door and shut it. Then, he took out a glue bottle that said on it "QuickyGlue! The glue that is as strong as a Tetramand and as quick as the speed of light! For pranks and fast getaways!" Opening the lid, he smothered glue along the door edge and threw away the bottle. By the time he was done. Stinkfly flew up to the door and grabbed hold of it. She then began to pull the door open but it was of no use.

It was glued shut.

Though it was pitch black and Ditto couldn't see her, he bet that Stinkfly was angry for she began to shout, "WHOEVER WAS THE PRICK WHO DID THIS TO ME I WILL GET HIM AND CUT OFF HIS MANHOOD!"

Trying to not think of such an unpleasant threat, he grabbed hold of the railing and began to jump down them two at a time. As he was jumping down, his steps echoed noisily throughout the stairway though he didn't care, the enemy already knew he was here.

He passed the 2nd floor and was about to go down to the first when he ran right into Eyeguy who was coming up from the first floor. The two of them crashed into each other and fell to the floor.

"Eyeguy!" screamed Ditto.

"Ditto!" screamed Eyeguy.

"Where are you going?" said Ditto in a worried voice, "we got to get out of here before we get caught! The only exit here is on the first floor!"

Eyeguy quickly got up and pulled Ditto up. "The entrance is blocked! I accidentally awoke some of them down there and they are beginning to surround the south entrance!"

"Did you mess up their plumbing and electricity?"

"Yes! However, it was that and me tripping over a chair which woke some of them up!"

"Crap! We'll have to go to plan B then! Come on! The other exits are this way!" said Ditto.

And with that, the two of them hurried off.

-----------------------------------------

Diamondhead rushed out of his room in pure dismay. After being awoken suddenly by the angry shouts of girls, he rushed out of his room with nothing on except his pajama bottoms. Even though it was pitch black, his other senses still worked to their full capacity. Gathering a collection of data, his mind "saw" that there were several girls in front of him who had pounded upon his door.

"What happened?" he said even though he had a pretty good guess.

"A boy has snuck into my room and stole my underwear!" shouted a girl who was blushing profusely. "He tripped however and woke me up! I was able to wake my other roommate in time though and we chased him out! We thought he would try to escape by using the front door but instead he took a right, went down the hallway and up the stairs. I was able to organize my other friends in time to block the door!"

"How do you know he went up the stairs if it was dark?" said Diamondhead.

In response to this, a flashlight was turned on and briefly blinded Diamondhead's adjusted eyes.

"I grabbed my flashlight and was able to track him down the hallway; however, I did not get a good look at him. He is quite tall whoever he is."

"Why aren't the lights on yet?"

"We tried to turn them on, but they don't work! We believe that the thief turned the power switch off so he could escape easier."

Diamondhead nodded and said, "he must be heading to the other side of the building, we must notify the girls on the other side to be prepared for he will be coming their way. I want you all to lock your doors on this floor because he might turn back to confuse us and escape through one of the windows!"

Before we continue with the story I must say how the building of the girl's dormitory is designed. The basic plan is that it is shaped like a large T with one main hallway that separates into two branching hallways. Stairs are located at the end of the main hallway, in the middle of the main hallway and at the spot where the hallways cross each other. There are three doors to the outside in total, one for each end, and there are three floors. Currently, Diamondhead is on the first floor in the long hallway.

Diamondhead gave each of the girls a brisk nod and took out two walkie talkies. He threw one to one of the girls and said, "I'm going after the perpetrator. If he comes back, notify me with the walkie talkie. Also, as quick as you can, call your friends that reside in the other parts of the building we need to catch this guy as fast as possible! Good luck."

And with that, Diamondhead went running off into the hallway, into the darkness.

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_Somewhere on the third floor…_

Stinkfly was desperately trying to open the door that led down to the stairs. She was still having no luck with it which made her all the angrier.

About six girls approached her; all of them were still wearing their pajamas. In their hands were a variety of things that they were brandishing like weapons. One had a bat while another had an umbrella. One even had a curling iron.

"We're ready to fight these perverts!" said the girl holding the umbrella.

Stinkfly let go of the door and said to them, "I wish I could say the same thing but this door won't budge. We'll have to go to the northern part of the building in order to get to them!"

The girls nodded in unison, "Let's go!" cried one of them. The girl with the bat threw her a flashlight. Stinkfly thanked her because she couldn't see in this pitch blackness.

Stinkfly smiled, "Alright! Ladies of the third floor! Onward to battle! CHARGE!"

The girls howled an Amazon cry and followed Stinkfly towards the place where the hallways connected.

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_On the north-eastern side of the building/right hallway on the first floor……_

Eyeguy and Ditto rushed down the stairs and got to the first floor, relieved that they were almost free. Eyeguy's large eyes had adjusted to the complete darkness and were able to see the door.

"There it is Ditto!" he shouted, "The exit! Lets go!"

They were about to run when several diamond shards whizzed passed their heads. Immediately, they hit the floor and covered their heads.

"Crap!" whispered Ditto, "Diamondhead's here!"

Before Eyeguy could respond, a great booming voice filled the hallway.

"I know that you are here thieves! And I will warn you that if you resist your arrest, then you will be punished severally! I will also tell you that I can see in the dark so don't think you can escape easily!"

Ditto smiled, obviously, Diamondhead didn't know who he was talking too. They were no ordinary thieves.

"Partner!" shouted Ditto, "PLAN C NOW!"

Eyeguy quickly nodded and got up from the floor and ran back towards the stairs. Right after he shouted, Ditto separated into three Dittos and they ran with him. The Dittos could hear the diamond shards whooshing passed their heads as Diamondhead was trying to take them down.

"Stop!" cried Diamondhead, "Resistance is futile!"

The Dittos ignored him. As they were running up the stairs, they each separated into the vast and many floored hallways that the building had. Alpha Ditto had caught up with Eyeguy and both of them stopped at the 2nd floor and took a right towards the northwestern part of the building. Beta Ditto also separated on the 2nd floor but went south towards the main hallway. Delta Ditto however, continued on towards the third floor and went south and into the main hallway.

The game has begun.

---------------------

_Northern part of the main hallway on third floor…_

Delta got to the top of the stairs and stopped to catch his breath. Where to go now with one of the exits blocked? Delta would have gone back down to the first floor but he bet that Diamondhead was still there.

That left the main hallway exit. Delta was worried, he didn't know if the girls were still there guarding the exit but he would have to chance it. He would, after all, face a small army of girls than the might and power of Diamondhead. He was about to take off when a light was shined upon his face.

"There he is!" cried a voice that sounded like Stinkfly, "GET HIM!"

"Oh shit," said Delta.

Without hesitating, Delta turned around and began to run down the stairs to the first floor. Behind him, he could hear the running of footsteps chasing after him.

And they were getting closer.

-------------------

_On the second floor, in the main hallway…_

Beta Ditto ran down the main hallway looking for a spot to hide. Sooner or later, those girls are going to come looking for him here and he'll have to be ready for them. He went to a nearby door and tried to open it, rats, it was locked. He went to another door and tried it. It too was locked. The third door however was unlocked and he was able to get into the room.

"I got to find an ample disguise," he whispered to himself, "Since it is dark out, maybe…if I put on something to camouflage me…I will be able to escape easier!"

He groped his way around the room until he found a cabinet. He then opened it and began looking through it. He then found a skirt and pulled it out.

"Perfect!" he said.

Quickly, he placed the skirt on his waist and he twirled about.

"Hehe, I feel so pretty!"

Knowing that this disguise was good enough, he groped his way to the door and got out of the room. He was about to high tail it out of there when a voice cried out.

"You there! Stop!"

Beta froze, was he caught? Is this the end for him?

Several girls came up to him and said, "we're going to the third floor, we believed that is were the thieves have gone. You in?"

Beta's mind was racing; clearly, they thought that he was a girl, if he said no, that would make him suspicious, but if he said yes, he would have to follow them and be risking his identity. Beta made up his mind and said in a strange voice, "Sure…"

"Great!" said the girl, "Let's roll!"

And so, unwillingly, Beta followed the bevy of girls to the third floor, all the while, thinking of a plan to how to escape…

-----------------

_Second floor…northwestern wing…_

Alpha Ditto and Eyeguy ran down the short hallway hoping to find somewhere to hide. Behind them, they could hear the loud foot steps of Diamondhead approaching. Alpha took Eyeguy and said, "We must go into one of these rooms and lock the door. We'll then have to pray that one of my doubles distracts Diamondhead!"

Eyeguy nodded, he took Alpha's hand and said, "let's try this one!"

And by sure luck, the door that they tried was unlocked. Both of the scurried in and slammed the door shut. They then locked it.

Right when they did, they then heard Diamondhead's voice. He bellowed out, "I know you are in one of these rooms! You can't hide! We will find you and punish you!"

Alpha gulped. Pressing his ear against the door, he heard Diamondhead going through some of the doors and knocking on them to see if any of the previous occupants were still in there. Just when Diamondhead was about to reach his room, a voice came on that sounded garbled and electronic.

"Diamondhead! Diamondhead where are you?"

Diamondhead's footsteps stopped and said, "I'm trying to find the thieves that's what!"

"Well where are you? We need you on the first floor! We're chasing one of them right now!"

It took awhile but Alpha recognized the electronic voice as Stinkfly.

Diamondhead paused, he then said, "where are you?"

"We're on the first floor in the main hallway! Get your butt over here!"

"…but I swear…that I pursuited the thieves to where I am…"

"Well your wrong cause we're chasing one right now!"

Diamondhead said nothing, Alpha's breath was held in, hoping against hope that Diamondhead would take the bait and leave him and Eyeguy alone.

"I'll be right there."

Alpha breathed a sigh of relief as Diamondhead quickly walked away. When his footsteps where gone Alpha said, "Let's get out of here!"

Eyeguy said nothing.

"Eyeguy?" said Alpha, "Eyeguy what's wrong?"

Eyeguy responded to him but in a voice that did not sound like his, "Have you ever noticed that Blizzard is so beautiful when she is sleeping?"

"Blizzard? What are you talking about?"

And then it hit him. They were in Blizzard's room. She must have been sleeping right now because otherwise she would have made a commotion. Alpha's mind began to race again,_ this is bad! Blizzard emits powerful pheromones that no man can resist. Even when she is sleeping she is a threat to man! I got to get Eyeguy and myself out of here before I am affected by her aroma!_

"Come on Eyeguy!" said Alpha pulling on Eyeguy's hand.

Eyeguy did not bulge. He just kept on saying, "So beautiful…so beautiful…"

"Eyeguy!" stressed Alpha, "Come on! Come on! Or else we are done for!"

----------------------

_On the first floor, main hallway…_

Stinkfly's voice rang out in the long hallway.

"After him girls! He will not escape the wrath of womanhood!

Delta tried to run faster but he was already going as fast as his legs could carry him. Already he was breathing heavily and getting more and more tired, the only thing that was keeping him going was the sheer fact that he did not want to lose his manhood.

As he was running he heard a strange sound from up above that sounded like loud bubbling. Delta smiled, of course! Eyeguy had not only tampered the electricity…he tampered with the plumbing too! If all goes well…

CRACK…SHBOOM!

The part of the ceiling caved in and water pipes gushed out large amounts of sewage onto the floor. Delta was able to miss it but Stinkfly and her ladies weren't so lucky.

They got the full blast of it.

Delta stopped and turned around to see the pipes soaking the girls with sewage. All of them screamed in surprisement and disgust as they slipped and fell to the floor. Stinkfly began to rattle off a bunch of curses to everyone and to the sewage. Delta smiled and kept running down the hallway.

He then got an idea.

When the sewage stopped soaking the girls he opened the door to the stairs, but he did not go in it. Instead, he let go of the door and went to the nearest room hoping it was unlocked.

It was.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Delta got in and closed the door.

Pressing his ear against the door much liked his Alpha counterpart did. He listened to see what was happening.

He heard Stinkfly and her group of ladies got up from the floor and ran near his door, however, they stopped.

"He's gone up the stairs! Look! The door is still open!"

"Come on! Will catch that bastard!" yelled Stinkfly.

Delta breathed a sigh of relief like Alpha did and sat on the bed which was empty.

He was safe, for now.

-----------------------------------------

_On the third floor in the main hallway…_

Beta was still following the girls from the second floor. They were currently looking for the "rogue" that had stolen their prized possessions. Little did the girls know, that they had a traitor in their mists.

All this time, Beta was thinking up a plan to escape, when he did, he cleared his throat and doing his best impression of a girl said, "Hey girls? I'm going to stay behind…you know…in case the thief makes a roundabout to the third floor…"

The head leader stopped and said, "alright that's fine, but be careful. When you do spot him, yell with all your might that you spot him and hold him down! That way, we will be able to catch him!"

"Okay!" said Beta.

The girls nodded and left him by himself.

When they were gone from the hallway, Beta ran to the middle of the hallway to try to open the stairs, however, they wouldn't budge. Beta then remembered that he had glued the door shut so it was impossible to open it.

What to do now?

While Beta was thinking, he heard voices from the other side of the door, putting his head up to the window of the door; he tried to see who it was…

----------------------

_Two minutes earlier…first floor…main hallway…_

Stinkfly stood in front of the door to the stairs and said to her amazon-like girls, "Come on! Will catch that bastard!"

She then took off leaving them behind. She flew through the air as fast as she could, there is no escape now. The stairs whizzed past her as she kept spinning upwards and upwards making her slightly dizzy. But she was focused on her target. She wanted to hunt it down and kill it. Nothing will stop her.

When she got to the top she went to the door and tried to open it.

It wouldn't open.

Stinkfly then remembered that earlier, the thief had super glue the door down leaving her behind and escaping. That thought struck her like a lightning bolt.

"YAHHHHHHH!!!!!" she screamed, "Shit! He must have gotten off on the second floor! That bastard!"

She was about to take off when she saw something on the floor with her flashlight. It was the bottle of the super glue that had held the door down. Stinkfly smiled, she picked up the bottle and held it firmly, oh what torture she could bring onto her enemy. Evil thoughts roamed in and out of her head as she smiled maliciously. By then, her group of ladies had caught up to her at the top of the stairs, the stench of the sewage still lingered with them, one of them said, "Stinkfly! Why are you stopped?"

"The door is glued shut; he must have gotten off on the second floor."

"Then who is that?"

Stinkfly turned around and saw a face peering through the window. She couldn't see who it was, but whoever he was, it was a boy.

"WHAT?!" Stinkfly screamed louder this time, "HOW THE HELL DID HE GET THROUGH!! DAMNET! THIS TIME I'M GOING TO GET THE SON OF A BITCH!"

Stinkfly stepped back and began to shoot acid from her mouth and at the door. She was determined to burn through the door and kill the thief.

-----------------------

_Somewhere on the second floor in the northwestern wing…_

Alpha Ditto was still having no use trying to get Eyeguy moving. He was still talking stupidly about how beautiful and pretty Blizzard was. And the more he talked and said that kind of stuff about her, the more that Alpha began to fall under her spell.

"Come on Eyeguy…even though Blizzard is pretty…we must go…must go…"

His mind became clouded, his eyes became droopy, his heart quickened as each second passed, he was falling in love with Blizzard.

However, in his clouded mind, a new thought came to his mind. Slowly, and dumbly, he took his hand and covered his nose with it. His mind instantly became clear and he was himself again. Of course! The feeling of love must have been activated through the smell tissues or whatever they are in the nose. If you cover your nose, the signals are blocked!

Making sure he was covering his nose, Alpha reached out his hand and covered Eyeguy's nose. Instantly, his babbling stopped and he looked at Ditto with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Thanks Ditto…I don't know what came over me…come on…let's get out of here…"  
"Amen!" said Alpha.

Slowly, the two of them crept out of Blizzard's room and closed the door.

When they were out, Eyeguy turned to Alpha and said, "Hey Ditto! There is a window at the end of this hallway…you wanna jump out of it and make our escape?"

Alpha paused for a moment and said, "I don't know Eyeguy…we're at a two story high building…could be dangerous…"

Eyeguy response had sarcasm in it, "Come on Ditto…we jumped out of higher places before and have survived. Jumping out of a second story tall building is nothing compared to those."

Alpha smiled and said, "You're right! Let's do it!"

"Not so fast!" said a deep voice.

Alpha and Eyeguy turned around to see Diamondhead standing there with a bunch of girls standing right by him.

"I've caught you! Give up now!"

"Oh shit," whispered Alpha and Eyeguy.

-------------------------------------

_Five minutes ago…one the first floor…in the main hallway._

Delta pressed his ear against the door to the room that he was currently in.

All was quiet.

Delta made up his mind; he will run to the exit as fast as possible while the coast is still clear. Delta took a deep breath and opened the door. He took a right and went down the long hallway, he ran as fast as he could, he could see it! He was nearing his goal! Nearing his freedom! Nearing his-

"THERE HE IS!" yelled a voice.

Delta quickly stopped.

"Shit," he said, "I forgot that the ladies were down here guarding this exit!"

"AFTER HIM!"

Delta made a quick U-turn and began to run the other way. He quickly stopped at the door to the stairs and went up it. When he got to the top of the second floor, he heard the door slammed right below him and hear the girls running up the stairs. Delta did not wait any longer and so he opened the door to the second floor and ran into the main hallway.

"With the army of girls chasing after me…I'll be able to escape since no one is guarding the door!"

He rushed down the hallway to the other side of the building; his only chance was that he got to the other stair case in time. As he was running a voice from behind him yelled, "IT IS NO USE GOING BACK DOWN! WE STILL HAVE TWO PEOPLE THERE GUARDING IT! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE NOW!"

"Shit!" said Delta out loud though he continued running.

When he got to the end of the hallway he stopped, he was trapped. The girls that are chasing him are getting closer fast, and his only exit is blocked. That meant that the only thing he can do is go up.

Up to the third floor.

Not hesitating any longer, he opened the door to the staircase and quickly went up the stairs. When he got to the top he ran to the staircase door, launched it open, and ran down the hallway.

However, since it was so dark, he couldn't see where he was going and he ran right into Beta Ditto who was covered in sludge. The two of them collided together and fell to the floor.

When the two of them recognized each other, Delta said, "Beta!" while Beta said, "Delta!"

"What are you doing here?" they both said.

"I am being chased by girls that who!" they responded.

"Whose chasing you?" they both said.

Just then, Stinkfly and her group busted out of the door to the staircase and wheeled on the two of them.

"I SEE HIM! HE'S RIGHT HERE! GET HIM!" yelled Stinkfly.

And at the same moment, the group of girls that was chasing Delta got up to the third floor and turned to Delta and Beta. One of the girls said, "I SEE HIM! HE'S RIGHT HERE! GET HIM!"

"Oh crap," said Delta and Beta.

----------------------

_Two minutes ago on the third floor of the main hallway…_

Beta stepped back from the door in shock. Stinkfly is up here! And she saw him!

Beta cursed several words as he realized that he is dead. While he was recovering from his shock, Beta heard sizzling coming from the door and smelled smoke. Beta cursed again, Stinkfly was going to acidify her way out. Beta knew that he can no longer waste any more time, he had to get out of here.

He was about to run off when he heard a large, retching sound somewhere above him.

"What the-?"

Then, suddenly, a pipe busted through the ceiling and sprayed gunk all over Beta. Beta was caught with his guard down and he fell to the floor with sewage getting all over him. When the sewage stopped pouring on him he mumbled to himself, "damn…I forgot that Eyeguy messed with the sewage."

The emergency of the situation snapped his senses back to place, he had to get out of here or his man hood…and all of the other Dittos too for that matter…will be cut off.

Shaking as much of the gunk off of him as possible, Ditto got off from the floor and ran as fast as he could…right into Delta…. The two of them collided together and fell to the floor.

When the two of them recognized each other, Delta said, "Beta!" while Beta said, "Delta!"

"What are you doing here?" they both said.

"I am being chased by girls that who!" they responded.

"Whose chasing you?" they both said.

Just then, Stinkfly and her group busted out of the door to the staircase and wheeled on the two of them.

"I SEE HIM! HE'S RIGHT HERE! GET HIM!" yelled Stinkfly.

And at the same moment, the group of girls that was chasing Delta got up to the third floor and turned to Delta and Beta. One of the girls said, "I SEE HIM! HE'S RIGHT HERE! GET HIM!"

"Oh crap," said Delta and Beta.

Beta and Delta dove to the floor as the two groups came running at them. Both of the groups were so full of blind anger that neither one of them saw the other, thus, they too collided into each other.

Beta and Delta were then tangled into a mess of girls as everyone tried to get up. While Delta was on the floor, his hand touched a tube that he unconsciously grabbed. While Beta was on the floor, his hand touched a long object that he too grabbed. If he needed to, he will defend himself with his new weapon in case any of the girls decided to attack him. While he was doing that, Delta took advantage of the confusion and jumped up from the mess and ran away as fast as possible towards the stairs. After Beta grabbed his object, he scurried towards a wall and pressed himself up against it hoping that he would not be seen.

When the ladies got up they began to have a heated discussion on where their Ditto went.

"He went down the stairs!" yelled Stinkfly, "You couldn't have possibily missed him!"

"No! We chased him up here!" said a girl who chased Delta, "We saw him on the first floor and we followed him all the way to here. You must have been seeing things in the dark!"

"Well I say your wrong" screamed Stinkfly, "and I'm going to find him! I'm saying he went down the stairs! After we collided with each other, he must have escaped while we were trying to get back up! So I'm going after him!"

And with that, Stinkfly flew off from the girls and flew towards the stairs that Delta earlier took.

"That bitch doesn't know what she is talking about!" said one of the girls, "the thief is still somewhere on this floor!"

"But where could he be?" replied another girl.

While they were talking, Beta, who was still pressed against the wall, began to slowly and quietly scoot away from the group of girls. When he was far enough away, he got up and was about to run when he saw a door that said "stairs to the rooftop."

Beta looked at the door for a moment, if he went to the rooftop, he will be able to hide from the girls who would be searching the rest of the building. They wouldn't suspect to search the rooftop would they?

Beta slowly walked to the door and slowly pushed the door open, careful to not make a sound while opening it.

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!

Right when he opened it, an alarm went off and several red lights began to flicker. Wondering what the hell was going on; Beta looked to the right of the door and saw a sign that said "WARNING! DO NOT OPEN IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY!"

"Shit!" he said.

He then heard a voice that yelled, "THERE HE IS! HE'S GOING TO THE ROOFTOP! AFTER HIM!"

Seeing that he had no other choice, Beta ran up the rooftop stairs and while he was doing that, he knew that he was caught for there was no other way to escape. He was dead.

When he opened the rooftop door a blast of cold wind hit him on the face. He ignored the wind and kept running all the way to the edge of the roof. He looked over the edge and thought whether he should jump. It was awfully high, and he had never before jumped from something this high before…he was trapped. He had no where else to go…

A voice as cold as the wind made him turn around to see all the girls staring at him. The half full moon lighted their angry and smiling faces. The voice which belonged to a girl who was as ugly as hell said, "you're trapped. Give up, and you will not be hurt."

It then occurred to Beta that he had a weapon in his hand to defend himself with. The weapon that he had pick up when he had collided with Delta. However, he didn't see what his weapon was.

His head slowly rotated down to see what he was holding.

An umbrella.

Beta smiled. He took the umbrella and opened it. He then stepped to the edge of the building and said, "I will not give up, for I am the best thief there ever was, and if I know what thieves are good for…they are good at making escapes! Farewell fine ladies! It was a pleasure to know you and your possessions a little better!"

Just then, a large wind draft blew at Beta, he held out his umbrella and he was caught in the updraft of the wind. His skirt was fluttering daintily as he was pushed upward by the blowing force.

And he looked down and saw in the moonlight the gaping faces of the girls as they watch their thief fly away.

Flying away into the night.

----------------------

_The Second floor on the northwestern wing…_

Alpha Ditto and Eyeguy were stunned that Diamondhead was here.

"How did you know we were here?" said Alpha quietly.

Diamondhead began to slowly walk forward towards them, as he was doing that, he said, "I didn't think you had truly left this part of the building. I stayed behind to make sure that my hunch was right. The more I think about it and the more I hear the reports from my girls, the more I think that there aren't two of you…there are four! And the other two were just distraction while you and your friend tried to make an escape. Nice try, but it didn't trick me."

Eyeguy and Alpha slowly walked backwards as Diamondhead went forwards. They were getting nearer and nearer to the window at the end of the hall. If they distracted Diamondhead somehow, they would be able to escape from it.

Diamondhead raised his hand and said, "Give up! Or I will fire my diamond shards at you!"  
Eyeguy, who was still watching Diamondhead with his many eyes, said to Alpha, "Alpha! Permission to use my eye beam on him?"

"Yes! If we can keep him at bay long enough we will escape! DO IT NOW!"

Eyeguy took a deep breath and combined all his eyes onto his chest. He then fired his eye beam at Diamondhead. The green beam illuminated the hallway giving it an eerie glow as it shot forward. Diamondhead was prepared for an attack like this and he raised his arms into a defense position to protect himself. The eye beam slammed into his arms and he was pushed back a bit…but not much. Slowly, he began to take small steps forward towards Alpha and Eyeguy.

"Eyeguy!" said Alpha, "what's happening? Why is he coming forward?"

"Ergh…too…strong…I can't…hold him off!"

Alpha saw that Eyeguy was beginning to take the strain on firing his beam, if this kept up, Eyeguy would fall to the ground in exhaustion. And to make things worse, Diamondhead was still coming forward!

Alpha looked around the hallway to see if there was anything he could find that would help him. On a wall nearby him, was a fire extinguisher.

"Ah ha!" he said.

He ran up to the fire extinguisher case, broke the safety glass, and took out the extinguisher. He then ran right up to Diamondhead and hit him with the extinguisher.

The force of the blow was so strong that Diamondhead became unbalanced. Because of this, the beam that he was reflecting veered off course and slammed right into a nearby wall. The beam was so strong that the wall crumbled to the floor. Alpha then felt the breath of wind from the outside world. Apparently, the beam was so strong that it created a hole in the wall that led to the outside world. When he held the extinguisher with both of his hands, Alpha felt a large dent on it.

Then Alpha got an idea (he was quite good at doing that in case you haven't noticed). While Diamondhead was still on the floor, he checked the label on the fire extinguisher which said "warning! Full of compressed CO2! Please handle with care!"

Alpha nodded, that will do, raising it above Diamondhead who was trying to get up from the floor he yelled, "I WILL SEE YOU IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD MY FRIEND!"

He then slammed the extinguisher on Diamondhead's head. His sharp head poked a hole at the bottom of the extinguisher and out rushed CO2. The force was so strong that the extinguisher (along with Alpha) rocketed forward. Alpha screamed with delight as he shot out of the gaping hole and into the grounds.

When Diamondhead recovered from _that_ blow he looked up and saw that Eyeguy was gone.

The window was opened.

"DAMN!"

Diamondhead slammed his fists to the ground. They got away. Over twenty thieves had broken into the dorm and all of them had been captured by him and his girls. Now, he had failed his duty as protector of the girl's dormitory.

Just then, Blizzard came out of her room in a daze and said in her still sleepy voice, "Yaaaaawn! Do you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to sleep!"

-----------------------

_First floor…main hallway…_

Delta was running towards the exit with happiness on his mind. Success! He was free! No one was chasing him and no one was guarding the exit! He was free! He was free!

Right when he got to the door, he was about to open it when a voice stopped him.

"Hold it right there bub!"

Delta's mind froze, only one girl had that much anger and evil stored in her vocal cords. He slowly turned around and saw in the semi-darkness Stinkfly standing several meters in front of him.

"Stinkfly!" he said.

"Yes…good ol' Stinkfly! The one whom you stole from! The one who you woke up! The one who you glued the door shut for and got sludge all over her! The one whom you somehow evade every time she tried to catch you! STINKFLY!"

Delta didn't know what to do. For once, he was out of ideas. He was going to be turned in. All his hard work…for nothing…

He put his hand in his pocket and found something there. Instantly, he realized that it was the quick, dry glue. His mind was racing again, he knew what to do. Quickly, he took out the glue and squeezed so hard that all the glue came bubbling out and overflowed the top. There was so much glue covering the tube, he could only hold the tip of the tube in order to not touch it.

"Hey Stinkfly!" he yelled.

"WHAT!"

"CATCH!"

Delta took the tube and threw it at Stinkfly; instinctively she caught it in midair.

"What the-? What is this stuff?"

Before she could do anything else, Delta ran up to her and took the arm that had the glue all over it. He then slammed the arm to a nearby wall and held it there. He quickly let go and stepped back.

"WHAT THE? SHIT! MY HAND'S STUCK!" screamed Stinkfly.

Delta then took walked up to Stinkfly and grabbed her head. He pulled her in for an embrace. There lips met briefly but the deed was done. He unlocked the embrace and said to her, "Good night Stinkfly! I hope we'll meet again in the near future!"

And with that he went running out the door, trailing behind him was this time, not girls, but the screams of Stinkfly.

-------------------

_Outside…_

When everyone of the Dittos had recuperated with Eyeguy. Everyone shook hands and congratulated each other.

And they said it was impossible to break in and break out of the girl's dormitory.

"Well gentlemen!" said Ditto who pulled himself together, "Let's see our beautiful rewards!"

Both Eyeguy and Ditto put their hands in their pockets and pulled out several pairs of panties.

"Ah…" said Ditto admiring them like one would admire a piece of artwork, "they are magnificent!"

When they were done admiring them Eyeguy said, "Ditto, now that are greatest accomplishment is done. What should we steal next?"

Ditto was silent for a moment, he then said, "I do not know Eyeguy. Nothing seems challenging anymore. However…I hear that the girl's locker room is quite a safeguarded place!"

Eyeguy grinned, "that should be fun, when should we start planning that great deed?"

Ditto paused a little longer and said, "As soon as Stinkfly's temper cools down."


	49. Fuzei Setsudanki

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** So far, I have had the viewpoint for all my characters of the main ten except one. Now, it is time for that character's viewpoint.

---------

The basement of the girl's dormitory holds many things. A bar, a rec room, a lounge, a study and a dining area. However, along side with those things is a room that holds a very special student. The room is detached from the other rooms and can only be entered through a secret passage way underneath the staircase at the crossroads of the hallways. Thus, because of that secret passage, few students have ever entered that room.

The room was most of the time either barely lit or completely dark. The only light source that shined the room was a light bulb that was painted purple. Thus the room always had a twilight feeling to it. In the room were a collection of strange articles such as dried up animal heads or rocks and minerals from different worlds. There were shelves upon shelves of books that filled the room. The books dated back from thousands of years, to only a few months old. There was no bed and there were no windows. However, there was a refrigerator. There were also no chairs in it except for a small one that sat on top of a table that was strewn with papers and books.

In the middle of the room hovered a ghost who was going through one her books. Her name was Ghostfreak.

Ghostfreak looked at the book in a lazy manner with her single eye rotating back and forth as she read the complicated words that littered the pages of her book.

The book boasted that it had several spells and potions that could elongate the lifespan of an organism. The author even said how he had given one of his potions to his pet which outlived his neighbors (whom he killed) and his wife (whom "accidentally" drank a poisonous drink and died).

Ghostfreak shut the book slowly; the book was full of nonsense as usual. She had read hundreds upon hundreds of books that talked about life and death and what to do with it and as far as she could tell, they were false. However, a lot of them did describe ways of killing things from a distance or killing people and leaving no mark behind…but she was not interested in that. She had no need for murder.

Taking the book in hand, she slowly glided towards the shelf and placed the book in its spot.

The issue of death and life has always entered Ghostfreak's mind when she was bored. Sometimes, she would question herself and her species if they were dead or alive. She was never told how she was born, who (if she had any) her parents were, or if she had any real family. In fact, she barely even knew anyone that was from her species, all she knew was that they all lived in a remote planet at the end of the galaxy. She was the only one of her kind around for light years around.

Ghostfreak then began to stare at the shelf, the more that she thought about it, the more that she realized that she was an odd one. She did not need a bed to sleep in for she was never sleepy. She never needed a chair to rest in for she never got tired. She never needed food for she was never hungry. She did however need to drink liquids fluently because she was thirsty sometimes and she also needed to take showers because sometimes she can smell. Isn't that crazy? A ghost that needs to take showers because they can become smelly?

"_I am certainly an odd one," _said Ghostfreak to herself.

"Talking to oneself is a sign of madness," said a cool voice in the room.

Ghostfreak eye widened and she made a small startling sound. Who was in her room and how did she not feel his presence earlier?

Ghostfreak quickly turned around and saw in the twilight darkness a tall, slim figure with large beady eyes.

Ghostfreak's eye widened.

"_You!"_ she said.

"It is a pleasure to meet you again, Penelope Sayzar," said the figure.

He walked towards her and Ghostfreak got a better sight of him. The creature was built like a mantis but modified so he appeared more human looking. He had a large thorax and an even larger abdomen. Four legs came out of the abdomen and supported the slim figure while his arms were curled up to his sides. His arms were also much like a mantis for they were clawed with sinister looking thorns that came from his hands all the way down to his elbows. He had a long neck that led to a pointy head which also had two long antennae sprouting out from the top of it. His bluish outfit went smoothly with his greenish skin and his overall complexion contrasted sharply with the dark and mellow room. He looked peaceful and yet that made him appear all the more threatening.

"_Fuzei _**_Setsudanki,"_**** said Ghostfreak slowly.**

**"Ah…so you remember me, Penelope. It has been a long time hasn't it?"**

**"_Not long enough…"_**** replied Ghostfreak.**

**"Come, come is that how you speak to an old friend?"**

**"_What are you doing here?"_**

**"I have come to give you a warning Penelope. It is almost time for you to go back home to where you belong."**

**"_What? Now? Not now! Not when I have so much to lose!"_**

**"That is why I said it is not yet time. Like I said before, this is a warning. A warning that you should be ready to leave by the time I come back. In one month, I will be back to pick you up. No exceptions. If you resist, I shall hurt your dear friend…what his name...Matthew…that's it."**

**"_Don't you dare…"_**

**"Do not worry; I shall not hurt him if you comply with my client's wishes."**

**"…_I do not want to go…"_**

**Fuzei gave her a complex look and said, "Penelope. Everywhere you go you had always hated and you always wanted to move to the next one as quickly as possible. Why have you suddenly decided that you do not wish to leave this place?"**

"…_I have friends…"_

"Ah, you have "friends." Tell me…where are your friends right now? Why aren't they "hanging out" with you right now? Why are you all alone in this…" Fuzei then motioned his thorny hands around the dark room, "…horrid place? Why aren't you with Matthew or his friends huh? Ah…I see…they do not care about you…they find you as much as a…_freak_…as everyone else does…I think…that they actually want to be as far away from you as much as possible. For no one wants to be with a freak."

"_Shut up! SHUT UP!"  
_"You can not deny your destiny Penelope! The evil spirit that is stored inside of you will be set free soon! If you do not come with us…all of your "friends" will be hurt or killed and you could do nothing about it. For instead of him being the host, you will be the host upon your very own body! You will watch in agony as every last bit of your friends are killed! That is the price you will have to pay if you do not follow my orders!"

"_SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"_

Ghostfreak picked up a nearby book and threw it at Fuzei. Fuzei was quick to react, faster than the blink of an eye; he raised one of his arms and sliced through the book in mid-air. The book upon impact was torn in two and fell to the ground. As it was falling, loose sheets of paper flew from the book and they floated calmly down to the ground.

It was just then that a voice that Ghostfreak so dearly loved filled the room up with its high pitch sound.

"What's going on here!?"

Ghostfreak turned to the door that led to the secret passage way, standing there was Grey Matter.

-----------------------------

_Several minutes ago…_

Grey Matter stood outside the girl's dormitory waiting for someone to open the door for him. After all, the door knob was above his reach and he had no chance in trying to open it. When someone did answer the door, he discovered a very angry Stinkfly looking back at him.

"Oh…it's you…" she said, "well…come on in…"

Grey Matter scratched his head but did not ask Stinkfly what was wrong since she could be very violent when angry. As he was following her, he saw a small hole in the wall and he also smelled in the air a faint aroma of sewage. His curiosity proved too much for him to handle and so he said, "Er…Stinkfly? What happened?"

Stinkfly made a horrible sound and she spat on the ground, the acid spit sizzled as it partially burned the floor. Grey Matter walked around the acid spit puddle as best as he could. Stinkfly then said, "a couple of thieves broke in and stole our panties, that's what."

"Ah…" said Grey Matter though it didn't completely answer his question, he decided to let it rest since he could tell it would make Stinkfly angrier.

Stinkfly stopped right by a stair case and said, "there ya go. Now if you excuse me…I have to go clean the upstairs floor."

"Er…right," said Grey Matter.

When Stinkfly was gone, Grey Matter walked underneath the staircase and went up to a wall. He then knocked on it several times in rapid succession. In response to his knocking an electronic voice said, "Password?"

Grey Matter cleared his throat and said, "Heatblast is smart."

"Password accepted, welcome Matthew," said the electronic voice.

A small door opened up for him and he gladly walked inside of it. The door swung behind him and he found himself at a rickety looking staircase with the only light source coming from a bare bulb that hung from the ceiling. Without hesitating, he jumped down the stairs one at a time until he got to the bottom. When he got to the bottom, he found a normal size door standing in front of him.

Before Ghostfreak inhabited the dorm and thus the secret room, the room in which she lived in used to be a storage room that kept forbidden items and what not. Back then the people who used it were "normal" size and thus had a "normal" sized door for them. Even though Ghostfreak and Grey Matter had been using the room for a long time, they still hadn't gone around taking it down and adding a mini door for Grey Matter. What they did add was an electronic device that would open the door for Grey Matter every time he would press a button that was near the door. Once he pressed it, the door would open and he would be able to get in.

He was about to push that very same button when he heard Ghostfreak's voice through the door.

"_SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"_ she cried.

Her voice was so terrifying sounding that it sent shivers down Grey Matter's spine. Fearing that something was wrong, he jammed his finger against the button and the door swung open. When he stepped into the room he shouted, "What's going on here!?"

The light from the stairway lit up the dark room and he was able to see Ghostfreak and a stranger whom he never had seen in all of his life.

"_Matthew!"_ said Ghostfreak in her still quivering voice.

Grey Matter looked into Ghostfreak's eye and saw for once in his life fear in it. The look of fear was even more terrifying than her scream for it meant that something was dreadfully wrong. He turned to the stranger and said, "What have you done to her!?"

The stranger rotated his thin body around to get a better look at Grey Matter. His large, black eyes made Grey Matter almost gag for they were so horrific looking. The stranger did not speak for a slight moment, when he did, he said, "so you're Matthew eh?"

Grey Matter gathered up his courage and barked, "yeah! What's it to you?"

The stranger ignored Grey Matter's comment and twisted his pointy head at Ghostfreak and said, "maybe I was wrong Ghostfreak…maybe you do have-"

"HEY!" interrupted Grey Matter, "I'm talking to you!"

The stranger's head snapped right back on Grey Matter and his antennae quivered, he then spoke in a harsher tone as he said, "you should respect your elders…do you even know who I am?"

"Like I care?" said Grey Matter.

"_Matthew! Hush! Fuzei is part of the Arthropoda Bounty Hunter Alliance group. They are some of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy!"_

Grey Matter's eye brow ridge rose a bit.

"A bounty hunter eh? Tell me…Fuzei…did Penelope ever tell you that she, Upgrade my friend, and I intend to be bounty hunters too?"

Fuzei made a strange choking sound and said, "really? She never told me that…"

"That's right!" said Grey Matter continuing on with gusto, "and when we get out of this school...we'll become the best bounty hunters ever!"

Fuzei relaxed his antennae which were straightened out and he said in a quiet voice, "…if you are still alive…"

Fuzei slowly turned around and faced Ghostfreak whose look of fear was still plastered on her face. Fuzei then said, "one month Penelope. Think about your choice and your destiny."

And with a flash of smoke, Fuzei was gone.

Grey Matter ran up to Ghostfreak and said to her in a reassuring voice, "Penelope! Who was that guy?"

Ghostfreak's head slowly focused on Grey Matter. And in a voice that was full of fear and hate she said

"One of the scariest people alive."


	50. Sitting with the Enigma Force

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Happy fifty chapters everyone! Recently, I set up a poll that said which two characters in my story are your favorite…though…currently I do not know where it is…but anyways…I must give a warm thanks to all of you who stuck with me for all of these months. And I hope you like this chapter! I did!

---------

Stinkfly snorted, typical, it was already five minutes into lunch time and her friends were still not there yet.

Right now, Stinkfly was in the academy's cafeteria. It was, as usual, buzzing with students who had just got out of their classes and were now sitting down to eat with their friends.

Except for her.

Her wandering eyestalks gazed the cafeteria in hopes that she could find _some_ table that had one of her friends at it. As her eyestalks searched for a table, she briefly passed other tables that had other students sitting at them. Some had jocks while others had emo kids, some had the druggies and one even had the theatre kids too.

But no, she did not find a table that she could relate with.

Grumbling a little, she walked over to a nearby empty table and sat at it, hoping her friends could hurry up and sit with her.

As she was eating, she felt dumb and lonesome. The surrounding chatter of other students bore down at her like an intense fog as she was eating. She felt separated from the world because she wasn't adding to that chatter.

Suddenly, a voice popped in and startled her.

"May I sit with you?"

Stinkfly looked up to see a smiling face with cheerful eyes. He was sort of short and he had an array of colors that were mainly green and black. Out of is head came funny protrusions. Stinkfly was hesitant at first but she had to agree because she didn't want to sit by herself any longer.

"Sure," she said.

The person sat himself right next to her. Before he started eating he held out his hand and said, "My name is Ditto! Pleasure to meet you, miss and thank you for your generosity for letting me sit with you."

Dumbfounded, Stinkfly took the hand of Ditto and shook it. He had a strong grip.

"Er…my name is Stinkfly…"

"Charmed." replied Ditto.

Ditto then began eating his food with tenderness. With table manners that would make a chef proud, he took a fork and stabbed his salad with it. Raising, it to his mouth, he bit into it and began to chew it slowly. After several moments of chewing, he swallowed it and he took another bite.

After staring at him eating, it then occurred to Stinkfly that she too had food in front of her. Feeling ashamed about her table manners, she awkwardly grabbed her fork and punched her salad with it. She then slowly raised it to her mouth and inserted it in.

It felt weird using a fork. Normally, she would grab it by the handful and stuff it in her mouth. That always made her guy friends that she normally sat with laugh.

After a minute or two, a tall person appeared from the cafeteria line and came up to her table. He had rather large ears and had no eyes on his face. The only eyes he did have were all over his body. He looked like a cross between a bat and a lizard.

"Hello Ditto…" he said in a quiet voice.

"Ah! Eyeguy, sit down, sit down! Stinkfly, I want you to meet my friend and partner Eyeguy."

Stinkfly cleared her throat and said, "hello."

Eyeguy nodded his head to her and he sat down his tray on the table.

Ditto leaned towards Stinkfly and whispered, "He's really shy…especially around girls…however he is a nice guy and when you get to know him better…he really opens up!"

Stinkfly nodded and watched Eyeguy sat down. However, that was easier said then done for when Eyeguy pulled up his chair it hit his foot. Eyeguy squeezed all of his eyes and clutched his foot and made grunting noises. While he was clutching his foot, he accidentally tipped over and fell on top of his chair. The chair then too tipped over and fell down along with Eyeguy. Eyeguy quickly got back up and he set his chair back up. Several people near by laughed at him while he was sitting down in his chair. Eyeguy acted like nothing ever happened.

"…he's a bit clumsy…" continued Ditto.

"Ah…" said Stinkfly.

Ditto turned to Eyeguy and said, "Eyeguy, what was the homework that Sensei Wildvine gave us?"

Eyeguy's eyes blinked before he said, "I believe it was over Chapter 6, numbers 31-59 odd."  
"Ah yeah, right, due tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Ditto was about to say something else when somebody else sat down with Stinkfly, Ditto and Eyeguy.

Stinkfly saw the person and immediately identified the species as a Megawatt.

The Megawatt quickly sat down and began to talk in an incredibly fast voice.

"Higuyshow'sitgoing?Greatdayisn'tit?Yepyep!GreatdayGreatday!"

The Megawatt head spun at Stinkfly and grinned a jack-o-lantern like smile.

"Ohwhoareyou?Youlookcute?What'syourname?WhoissheDitto?Who?Who?Who?"

Ditto cleared his throat and said, "Stinkfly, this is Buzzshock. Buzzshock, Stinkfly. As you can see he is a very…energetic person…"

"Yepyepyepyepyep!" said Buzzshock quickly, "I'moneofthefasteststudentsinthiscamp!OnlyXLR8isfaster!"

"Which reminds me…"said Ditto, "Eyeguy, do you have the battery pack?"

Eyeguy took out a rather large battery pack that had a red wire and a black wire coming out of it. He leaned over to Buzzshock and held it out in front of him.

"Alright Buzzshock," said Eyeguy, "I'm attaching the battery pack right now."

"Okay!" said Buzzshock quickly.

Eyeguy then placed the battery pack on the back of Buzzshock, he then took the black wire and placed the end of it to one shoulder and he took the red wire and connected it to the other shoulder. When the connection was completed, the battery pack made a dingy sound and then began to hum quietly.

"Ahh…" said Buzzshock, "Sometimes…it feels so good to have that thing on…"

Stinkfly was confused, once again, Ditto leaned over and said, "Buzzshock has a large amount of electrical energy that is wasted sometimes. So, we invented a device that "sucks" some of the energy from him. This way, we have a charged battery and a calmer Buzzshock."

Stinkfly nodded her head but she still stared at Buzzshock in a perplexed manner.

Buzzshock turned to Ditto and said, "so what did you think of the quiz that Sensei Wildvine gave us?"

Ditto swallowed the food in his mouth before saying, "it wasn't too bad…though I was thrown off by that friction problem…we haven't studied friction for a month and he throws that in. Sort of makes me mad if you ask me…"

Buzzshock nodded his head up and down quickly, "I know! I was doing great until I got to that problem and my mind was like uhhh…crap…I forgot how to utilize friction in my equation!"

Ditto raised his fork gleefully and said, "even though I didn't get that question, I did get the one multiple choice question about planets and gravity."

Buzzshock twisted his head to the side and said, "which one was that?"

"Oh you know…the one that said…"you have two planets: Planet A is twice the mass and volume of Planet B. Which one has the greater gravitational force?" So I said that Planet B had the greater gravitational force."

"What?!" exclaimed Buzzshock who looked confused, "but that doesn't make any sense! Planet A is twice the mass_ and_ volume of Planet B. Clearly, Planet A has the greater gravitational force."

Before Ditto could respond to this comment, a fourth person joined Stinkfly's table. This one was a Gourmand. He wore rather long, plaid socks and a shirt with a vest over it. He looked rather sporty. He sat down to Ditto's right and Eyeguy's left. His tray consisted of a variety of interesting objects including what appeared to be part of a car, a wrench, and aluminum foil and in his plastic cup was what appeared to be oil.

"Hallo everybody!" he said in a foreign accent, "Guten tag?"

"I'm doing alright Upchuck, "said Ditto eyeing Upchuck's lunch food with a slight smile on his face, "but I don't think I can say the same thing about Buzzshock…"

"Vy?" said Upchuck who took his aluminum foil and began to munch on it like a rabbit eats a carrot.

"Ugh…I think I messed up my quiz badly! I think I got a C or a D!"

"ah…yah…" said Upchuck who was nodding his head, "I didn't think I did so vell…vat's the vord?...either..."

"We were just talking about the question about the two planets and which of them had the greater gravitational force," said Ditto who took a drink from his tea.

"Yah…I know vhich one you are talking about…"

Upchuck took a drink from his oil and set the cup down, he then said, "I vrote down that Planet B had the greater grav-it-ta-tion-al force."

"Agh! Why?" said Buzzshock who had his hands on top of his head in a stressed like manner.

Before either Ditto or Upchuck could respond, Eyeguy stepped in and answered Buzzshock's question.

"It all has to do with the Gravitational Force equation. GF G constant times mass 1 over radius squared (Gmass/r2). The radius of Planet A is twice the length of Planet B. Thus the denominator in the equation for Planet A is four times larger than Planet B. This lowers the numerator value significantly. It is like comparing the planet Jupiter in Earth's solar system to this planet that we are on right now. Even though it is about eleven times higher than this planet, its gravity is only about 2.25 times greater. This is because A. it is made of mostly gas and thus it is lighter than you would expect it to be, and B. the radius is larger."

Ditto, Upchuck and Buzzshock nodded in agreement. Buzzshock said, "ah…now it makes sense…"

Stinkfly did not comprehend anything that was just said.

Upchuck then noticed her and said, "Ah! And who ist this fine girl?"

Ditto for the third time introduced Stinkfly, "This my find Gourmand friend, is Stinkfly."

Stinkfly waved her hand at him and Upchuck bowed his head.

"It ist mein pleasure een meeting you Stinkfly."

Ditto once again eyed Upchuck's food and said, "are we once again on a diet Upchuck?"

Upchuck sighed and made a sad face that made Stinkfly's heart melt.

"Yah…my team ees forcing me to be een feet condition. They don't want a fat member…"

"Wait…" said Stinkfly who had at this point forgotten about eating her food, "you're not on the same team together?"

All four of them looked at Stinkfly in a cool silence, Stinkfly once again felt dumb but then.

"Sadly no," said Ditto who looked as sad as Upchuck and his pathetic lunch, "the only people here who are on the same team is Eyeguy and me, Upchuck and Buzzshock are separated from the rest of us…"

"Then how did you meet?"

"It vas on a…series…of coinc-coninci…things…that brought us together…" said Upchuck who then began to eat his car part.

"We were hoping to be on a team when we first met each other but it didn't happen," said Buzzshock who also looked sad.

"Instead," said Ditto who looked brighter, "we formed our own secret team!"

"…and what is the name of your secret team?" said Stinkfly curiously.

"WE ARE…" said Ditto, Upchuck and Buzzshock, "THE ENIGMA FORCE!"

The three of them then did random poses. Ditto's pose was him in an attacking position with his arms up like he was about to karate chop something. Upchuck's pose was him with his arms pointing in the same angle and direction that reminded Stinkfly of a disco like move. Buzzshock's pose was him crossing both arms and placing them on top of his chest. His hands made the peace sign.

Eyeguy did nothing.

Ditto saw that and whispered, "Eyeguy…you got to do the pose…"

Eyeguy looked like he would rather not to but he didn't really have a choice. Slowly, he raised his arms up until they were at their maximum height, then he twisted his hands so they were parallel to the ground.

"Enigma Force," he said quietly.

All four of them lowered their hand positions. Ditto then said, "together we will triumph over any puzzle!"

"Over any riddle!" said Buzzshock.

"Over any mystery!" said Upchuck.

"…over any challenge…" said Eyeguy quietly.

"We are the team that instead of using sheer power…we use sheer wits!" said Ditto who had a triumphant smile on his face, "Role call!"

Upchuck did his pose again and said, "Member Upchuck. Status on team: lock picker, chemical expert and die bombe maker!"

Buzzshock did his pose and said, "Member Buzzshock. Status on team: scout, weapon's expert and creator of unusual items that are seen fit for the call of duty!"

Eyeguy didn't do his pose again but he did say, "Member Eyeguy. Status on team: mechanic, electricity engineer, fighter and safe cracker."

Ditto then did his pose and said, "Member Ditto. Status on team: leader, hacker, disguiser, and maker of plans."

"We are the Enigma Force!" said Ditto, Upchuck and Buzzshock said again.

When they lowered their poses, Stinkfly laughed because of the absurdness of the situation.

"You guys are so funny!" she said with a large smile on her face.

"We are quite good at that too," said Ditto who resumed his eating and acted like he didn't do anything silly at all in the first place.

"So your abilities…" said Stinkfly whose curiosity and wonder for these four strange boys kept growing by the minute, "do they have any relation whatsoever with your powers?"

"Vell…" said Upchuck, "not really…"

"You see," continued Ditto, "most of our abilities are earned through hard work and determination. Like our intelligence. Unlike in Grey Matter or Upgrade's case where they were gifted with intelligence, we fought hard to be as smart as we can be. But sometimes, we use our powers when we do our abilities."

"For example…?" said Stinkfly.

"Like me!" said Upchuck who left his bland meal alone, "I have ze ability to eat very large objects and regurgitate them out quickly in a super…heated…form. Thees applies to my ability as a chemical expert."

"And why is that?"

"Vell…let's say the Enigma Force needed a material in eets pure form…say…iron oxide…I have zee ability to eat an object that has iron oxide een it and…separate…it into its pure form. I can do all of thees een my own stomach!"

"Really?" said Stinkfly.

"Yah! But my bombe making skills and lock picking skills have nothing to do vith my ability to eat large things."

"Ah…and Eyeguy…do any of your abilities have something to do with your powers?"

Eyeguy's eyes looked up and stared at Stinkfly, he was clearly surprised that he was being called on by a girl. He took a breath before he said, "yes, I do in fact. My large ears can pick up very quiet sound waves. This goes well with my safe cracking skills. If I put my ear up to the wall of a safe, I can hear through the thick steel and can hear the clicks when the dial turns to its correct number."

Stinkfly nodded her head and said, "but you also said that you were a mechanic and electric engineer…now I don't mean to be rude…but couldn't terrible accidents happen because of your clumsiness?"

Eyeguy blushed before saying, "my body maybe clumsy, but my hands are not."

It was here that Ditto interjected, "that is very true, very true indeed. You should see him in action when he is fixing a vehicle. He gets the job done well and fast. The way he fixes things is like watching an artist paint."

Eyeguy blushed again at this comment and said, "…it's really not like that."

Stinkfly smiled and turned to Buzzshock, she then said, "and what about you? Do your abilities reflect your power?"

Buzzshock smiled a toothy smile and said, "Yep! They certainly are! Like my position as scout on the Enigma Force!"

"How so?"

"Well, because I am made out of almost pure electricity, I have the ability to sense discharges throughout the area that I am in. All organisms emit small discharges within their own environment. The charges are so strong, that if I close my eyes, I can "see" where everyone is. For example, in this room there are currently 75 students."

"Wow! That's amazing!"

"I know! And that is how that ability can help me with being a scout, I can sense when something is coming from a distance and thus warn the group."  
"What about your other two abilities? Weapons expert and what was it? Creating items?"

"Yeah, they have nothing to do with my electricity power. Over the years, I have studied weapons, and thus I know the potential and capability of each of them. Also, I am very good at making random inventions."

Stinkfly nodded and finally faced the fourth and final member of the team, Ditto.

"What about you Ditto?"

Ditto placed his fork down and took a large drink from his water, when he set it down, he said, "my powers have nothing to do with my abilities."

"Really?" said Stinkfly with respect.

"Yep, I have worked hard towards my goals ever since I was very young. Now, I am a master of disguises, one of the best in hacking, and great at making plans for the Enigma Force."

"What do you mean master of disguises?"

"I have a variety of costumes and make up that can disguise my features and make me somebody else. I am also good at changing my voice so that people won't recognize who I am if they hear me…for example…if I talked like this…"

Ditto's voice changed so much that it reminded Stinkfly of Ripjaws.

"…I sound insecure and shy…" continued Ditto, "if I talked like this…"

Now Ditto's voice reminded Stinkfly of Heatblast.

"…I sound like a haughty and confident person. I can even change my voice so it can sound like somebody else's…for example…my name is Four Arms and I am the prince of my planet."

Stinkfly was shocked for that was what Four Arms actually sounded like, the voice was so on the spot that it would have fooled Stinkfly if she didn't know that was actually Ditto speaking.

"Wow! That's amazing! All of you have a wide variety of talents…but…they are all so unusual…what's the purpose of them?"

Before any of them could respond, a voice called out from behind Stinkfly.

"Hey Stinkfly! Why don't you sit with us instead of with those dorks!"

Stinkfly turned around and saw the group of guys she normally sat with during lunch time. They were all beckoning her to sit with them at an empty table. It then occurred to Stinkfly that she was disgusted at herself on who she was hanging out with. Looking back at it, she was wondering where she went wrong…

"Ah go sit by yourselves you pricks!" she yelled, "I'd rather sit with these cool guys then be with you!"

She turned around and said to the Enigma Force, "So…what do you guys want to do after lunch?"


	51. Conversations over Soup

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Recently, I have had Stinkfly in a lot of my chapters…I wonder why? Guess she just fits well (or not) with other characters…

And now it is time to move the plot forward…

---------

In the forest laid Four Arms temporary home. He has lived there for a long time now and he still hasn't gotten bored with it. In fact, he liked it a lot better than his lifestyle when he lived like a prince on his home planet. It was lunch time, which meant that Four Arms was cooking up some soup since it was a bit chilly out. He had a small fire going and he had a pot over it, he was sitting in a large chair stirring the pot while he was listening to Stinkfly talked.

"So these guys that you sat with yesterday…" he said, "what did they call their own team?"

Stinkfly flew towards him and landed at the area near the fire, taking a quick whiff of the food, she then said, "they called themselves the Enigma Force."

"Haha…the Enigma Force…"

He kept stirring the pot and Stinkfly made small snort of impatience and said, "They're not weirdoes or freaks if that's what you're thinking! They are smart students who are very kind and are interesting!"

Four Arms laughed again and said, "I wasn't laughing at them Stinkfly! I was just laughing at the sheer idea of them calling themselves…"the Enigma Force". Of all the names they could have chosen, they picked that…"

Stinkfly paused before saying, "true…it is an unusual name…though by the way they put it…it was supposed to mean that they could solve any riddle or challenge. They had the brains and the skills to overcome any puzzle. It makes you think why our team doesn't have a name…"

Four Arms stared at the bubbling pot of soup; he then looked up and said, "It makes you think though…"

Stinkfly gave him an odd look and said, "about what?"

Four Arms shrugged and took a spoon that was nearby, as he was dipping it into his soup and taking out a small helping, he said, "well…think about it…what do they mean by riddles or puzzles? What is it all for?"

"Isn't it for the Trials that the academy gives us?"

Four Arms slurped some of the soup into his mouth and tasted it, shaking his head at both the taste and at Stinkfly's comment, he said, "no…I think it is more than just that…the Trials that we are given are more or less surviving, stamina and plus a bit of strategizing. The "Enigma Force" seems to not fit with that. I mean…look at their abilities. One of them has the ability to pick locks while another has the ability to crack safes and still a third has the ability to do great disguises. Do those sound like things one might need in the Trials?"

"No…"

"Which means…" said Four Arms continuing off of Stinkfly, "that there must be some other motive that the Enigma Force has…"

"But what?"

Four Arms shrugged and went back to stirring his soup, Stinkfly raised her head and looked at the other side of the camp to see Wildmutt chewing on something, a thought came to her and she then said, "Speaking of Trials…the next one is coming up in two weeks…"

"Yes…the Metal Trial…"

"What do you think this one will be about? I mean…all the other Trials had something to do with their element…Forest…Earth…Water…but Metal? Where can we go to fight that has something to do with Metal? A junkyard?"

"I know…"

"What is it?"

"Well…" Four Arms then dipped his spoon back into the soup to test it, he said, "the Metal Trial is different from the other Trials because…well…the scenario is different…"

"How so?"

Four Arms tasted the soup and said to himself, "almost there…"

"Four Arms! Tell me!" said Stinkfly impatiently.

Four Arms bit into his lip and said, "Well…it is like this…"

Four Arms let got of the spoon and leaned back in his chair, both pairs of his arms were grasped in a relax position.

"So…the Academy divides all their students up into teams right?"

"…right…"

"And those teams range from about nine to fourteen students each okay?"

"…okay…"

"So…this is how it works…two teams are randomly selected and have to fight each other. But, not everyone fights…five students are randomly picked from their team and have to fight the opposing team who also have five students that are randomly picked. The way it works is that each of these students fights one other student and the winner is the person who is the one not thrown out of the arena or fainted due to exhaustion. The team who wins is the team who has won at least 3 of the 5 fights. The team that loses, goes home packing. For example, if Team Alpha and Team Beta fought each other than student Alpha 1 will fight Beta 1 and so forth…"

"What?!" said Stinkfly who was shocked at what Four Arms was saying.

"I know I was surprised too," said Four Arms.

"But…but…what does that have to do with metal?"

"The way I hear it is that the "Metal" is more or less an analogy to war. War can be fought a number of different ways, from swords and shields, to bullets and bombs, they are what helps us kill things easier. These weapons are all made of metal that has been mined from the earth or made in factories. It is these weapons that have clashed with other weapons for thousands and thousands of years. And in most cases, the winner is the one who has the better weapons. Weapons fighting weapons are, in a sense, metals fighting metals, or in this case…students fighting students…and the team who wins…is the team who has the better students…"

"So the student is the weapon…" said Stinkfly whose brain was all in a twist from this.

"Exactly, kind of a grim outlook if you ask me…"

Four Arms tasted the soup again and said, "Ah! It is done! Stinkfly, hand that bowl over there."

Stinkfly handed him a bowl which was on the ground, Four Arms took it and with a large ladle, poured the soup into the bowl. He handed it to Stinkfly who took it, Four Arms took another bowl and poured it with the soup.

"Eat up," he said.

Stinkfly took her spoon and began to slurp up the soup. She smiled in delight at how good the soup was. Not only was Four Arms a good doctor, he was a good cook. It was a pleasant mix.

Just then, Wildmutt walked up to her, in his mouth was what appeared to be an empty bottle. He walked up to her and opened his mouth, the bottle fell to the ground and rolled to Stinkfly's feet. She looked at the bottle with a surprised look.

"What's this Wildmutt?" she said as if she was expecting for the animal to talk.

"Oh, that," said Four Arms who was eating his soup heartily, "Wildmutt and I have been playing fetch with that bottle for about two weeks now. He seems rather oddly attached to it. I don't know why, of all the things to play fetch with he chose a bottle. Weird."

Four Arms went right back to eating, Stinkfly however kept staring at the bottle.

"Four Arms…" she said, "there's a note in it!"

"What? Wildmutt! Why didn't you tell me there was a note inside of the bottle?"

In response to this, Wildmutt growled angrily at his master and barked at him out of frustration.

Stinkfly picked up the bottle and took off the lid. As she was reading her eyes got bigger and her mouth dropped open, when she was done, she said, "Four Arms! It's Ripjaws! She's in trouble!"

"Trouble? How?"

"It says here that Cuttooth has imprisoned her within the lake. She says that he had thrown away the Water Orb which gives her the strength to live on land and now she is trapped in the lake!"

"Great Scott!" said Four Arms who quickly got up, "we got to help her!"

"Yes!" said Stinkfly who has now forgotten about eating her soup, "but how? The lake is deeper than it looks and the water orb could be anywhere!"

Four Arms had that look of sheer concentration on his face again, he said, "we must assemble the team together! We must rescue Ripjaws!"

"Tonight!" said Stinkfly.

Four Arms nodded at her comment, "Yes…tonight."


	52. The Rescuing of Ripjaws

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** So…I tried out this new poll thingy and guess what? It worked! I made a poll about which of my characters in "How the Omnitrix came to be" you liked the best! Since there are so many of them, I can give you two choices to vote for! All you have to do is go to my profile, and at the top of it is a link to the poll! Please give it a try since I want to see which of my characters you like the best!

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"_Ripjaws…"_

_Ripjaws eyes shot open, she looked around wildly, no…that voice…it can't be…_

"_Ripjaws…" the voice said again._

_Ripjaws looked wildly around in the watery darkness. Her head swiveled in all directions by trying to locate it; she was hoping that it wasn't who she thought it was._

"_I'm going to get you Ripjaws…" the voice said again, "and this time…you won't be able to stop me…"_

"_No!" Ripjaws cried, "keep away from me!"_

_Ripjaws then took off in a random direction, she swam with all her might, hoping she might lose the voice. However, it was no use for she heard the voice again._

"_You can't hide from me forever…I'll be watching your every move, and when you let your guard down…I will strike!"_

"_Stop it!" yelled Ripjaws who clutched her head with her claws, "stop it!"_

_Ripjaws closed her eyes and opened them again, this time, instead of being in the water she was on dry land. Ripjaws blinked, this wasn't just any dry land, this was her home, planet Swampus._

_Fungus covered trees littered the area giving it an old look to it. Vines slithered and tangled across the ground like groping fingers. The air was thick with humidity and bugs flew past her head at blinding speeds. She looked down at the ground and saw to her horror, her dead family. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind came by and the air smelt strongly of acid and blood. Ripjaws felt queasy, her stomach flip flopped and tears came to her eyes as she realized that she could do nothing to save her family. She didn't dare open her eyes again to see the carnage and horror that was brought down to her family. If she did she would break down and so she kept them closed._

"_Come out and play Ripjaws…" the voice said again, "I want to have fun…"_

"_Shut up! Shut up!" cried Ripjaws._

"_I haven't eaten fresh meat for a long time…fish can sooth my appetite for blood but it doesn't stand up to the soothing taste of red meat…blood…" the voice gave a small chuckle. Ripjaws spine quivered as she heard the voice laugh._

"_Keep away from me!" she said._

"_Yahahahaaaa…like I have a choice?...but just you wait Ripjaws…my time will soon come…"_

"_No…no…NO!"_

Ripjaws was shaken awake, she gasped as she was thrown out of her deep slumber. It only took her a second that she realized that she was back in her lake, sleeping on the shore line. She looked around to see who had awaken her and she found a person with a mask over his face waving at her. It only took Ripjaws a moment to realize that this person was Blizzard in a scuba diving outfit. Swimming next to Blizzard was Grey Matter wearing an Upgrade-morphed scuba outfit. He too waved at her and then put his fingers up to his lips to make sure that she remained quiet. It then occurred to Ripjaws that her note that she sent to Wildmutt must have finally been received by her team. Grateful that they were finally here, she nodded her head and waved back.

Grey Matter and Blizzard did a quick check to see if the coast was clear and then nodded to Ripjaws. The two of them slowly swam upwards to the surface, Ripjaws followed them closely.

When Ripjaws broke the surface of the water, she discovered that the rest of her team was there, they were all busily looking for her water orb. It was here that Grey Matter took off his mask and said to her, "We haven't quite yet located the water orb yet but we know its general area. Penelope used a magic tracking spell to try to locate the water orb, even though she hadn't pinpointed it, she managed to find it in a small area."

Ripjaws nodded and turned her head back to the team.

As she was bobbing up in down in the cool water, she saw XLR8 hobble around with a cast on trying to look for the water orb. It occurred to Ripjaws just then that she hadn't seen XLR8 break her leg before, Ripjaws nodded to herself that she would help XLR8 as much as she could in return for her kindness in helping her out of the lake.

"Got it!" cried Four Arms.

Ripjaws smiled in happiness as she saw Four Arms holding up in the air her water orb. The pale moonlight reflected off of it giving it a deep sea glow.

Four Arms walked to the shore of the lake and handed it to Ripjaws. Ripjaws smiled that she was finally free from her prison and she took the orb into her hands. Already, she could feel the orb's power flowing through her. She took a deep breath and then, slowly walked onto land. As she was slowly walked up onto the dry land, she felt the waters slowly go below her chest, her waist, her knees and finally her feet. She breathed in the fresh air and was at last happy that she was free. Before she could say anything, Diamondhead said, "there's still the manner of where Ripjaws will be sleeping tonight. We can't hold her in the gym pool because Cuttooth will be able to reach her easier.

"I will take her in as my roommate!" said Stinkfly gleefully.

"Really Stinkfly?" said Ripjaws hopefully.

"Yes, yes I do."

Before Ripjaws could thank her, Stinkfly smelled her and said, "whoo! But first, your going to have to take a shower! You smell like dead fish!"

Ripjaws gave a sheepish smile and said, "…sorry…"


	53. Team Nightmare

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Ah, I've been waiting for this chapter for quite some time…

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XLR8 cautiosly shifted her body weight from one crutch to the other, the crutch made a small groaning sound as it held more of XLR8's body. Her foot after all these weeks was still broken but the good news was that she was able to walk around the campus again. The campus's doctor said that her cast would be off in less than two weeks. She was thrilled at that but was very worried.

The thing was, she hadn't _got_ two weeks, the Metal Trial was going to be here in less than a week and if she was picked to fight, the chances of her winning would be very slim. As each day passed, she got more and more worried and hoped all the more that her foot would heal faster.

She stood by the old tumtum tree waiting for her teammates to show up so they could do training practice. Even though XLR8 had a broken leg, XLR8 got their early which struck her as ironic. Even without her super speed, she was still the first one there.

As soon as she thought that, along came Upgrade who was holding Grey Matter and floating behind them was Ghostfreak.

"Good afternoon XLR8," said Upgrade.

XLR8 nodded to him and said, "Good afternoon."

"How is your leg?" said Grey Matter.

"Terrible."

"Ah…" inquired Upgrade, "then it must be improving; two days ago you said it was horrendous."

"Yes she did," said Grey Matter, "and last week she said it was unbearable."

"_Ah, that is good news to hear,"_ said Ghostfreak.

XLR8 had to pull back a smile at their sarcastic wit, whether she liked it or not, they were three of a kind.

"Hey!"

XLR8 turned her head and saw Four Arms waving one of his arms and flying beside him was Stinkfly. Panting behind them was Wildmutt. Four Arms smiled big as he approached XLR8.

"And how is your leg today XLR8?"

Before XLR8 could reply Upgrade said, "She said it was terrible."

Four Arms nodded and said, "That's good, the last time I heard, it was "horrifying."

XLR8 snorted and said, "Alright, enough with the ssssarcastic jokesss."

Four Arms laughed and gently patted her shoulder while saying, "aww, we're just messing around with you!"

Stinkfly got to the side of XLR8 and pulled her in close and said, "Aye! You're a good person to tease! And the way I heard it…laughter is the best medicine!"

XLR8 snorted again and said, "who told you that? Prince Four Armsss?"

Before Stinkfly could respond a new voice popped in, "Oi, are we all here?"

XLR8 twisted her head and saw Diamondhead standing near them. His grey slated eyes peered at each and everyone of them in a calculating way.

"Yep!" said Grey Matter, "…well…almost everyone…"

"Who is gone?"

"Well…as we all know," said Four Arms, "Heatblast is gone on his training mission with Cannon Bolt but I do not know about Ripjaws."

"Ripjaws…" interrupted Stinkfly, "is in bed, she was feeling a little bit tired today and so she is taking a nap."

"But where is Blizzard?"

"Here I am!"

The team members turned around and saw Blizzard running up to them as fast as she could. When she stopped in front of them, she paused to catch her breath and said, "sorry I'm late, I nearly forgot all about it! I hope I didn't miss anything important!"

XLR8 snarled at her incompetence, before she could make a sarcastic reply, Stinkfly said, "Nah, we all just got here, in fact, Diamondhead I believe was just about to make a speech."

Out of the corner of XLR8's eye she thought she saw Upgrade looking a bit discomforted with the arrival of Blizzard. Even though Upgrade has minimal facial features, she knew him long enough to know when he had certain moods displayed on his face.

Diamondhead was silent for a moment but then nodded his head, "right. Okay, now before we begin our training session, I must put emphasis that we must prepare ourselves for the Metal Trial. Unlike in the other Trials, you are fighting by yourself. Five of us will be picked to fight and that's it. We don't know who that will be so we all have to be in our best condition the day of the Trial. It is up to those five to make sure that we get to stay here at the Academy. We do not know who we are fighting yet, but we will know in about a day so when we do we must form strategies…"

The dreading sense of worthlessness came back to XLR8, she felt the heavy weight of the cast upon her leg as she thought more and more about the Trial. Diamondhead's pep talk made her feel more and more sick.

"…so now that I have said all of that, we must have a good training session. Alright?"

"Diamondhead?" said Four Arms.

"What?"

"…can we…can we be with Yang?"

Diamondhead was taken aback with this comment and said, "…why?"

"Well…after that depressing pep talk…we need something happy…or…light…to balance out the dark…"

Diamondhead gave a snarl and said, "No, if I let him out, he will be merely a distraction and we would not be able to train at our best…"

"But Yin…"

"No, and that is final, now come on…"

The team looked at each other and back at Diamondhead, after hesitating for a moment; they all began to follow Diamondhead to the training building.

XLR8 grabbed her crutches tightly and began to walk as fast as she could with them. When she first got her crutches, she was quite slow with them and that frustrated her, now however, she was able to walk at the same pace that the rest of her team walked in.

As she was walking with them she heard some interesting conversations sprout up from her team members.

"…I met that Ditto guy today and his Enigma Force…"

"…you seem to be meeting these guys a lot lately…"

"…she must be quite a player…"

"…_the library has a new shipment of books in…"_

"…oh superb!...I wonder what they have now…"

"…they still haven't told me why they have all of those unusual traits though…"

"…do you suppose there is a new book about psychology?"

"…bark!...bark!..."

"…I have been training lots lately with Sensei Wildvine…"

"…did they even catch those guys yet?..."

"…_hopefully there is a new shipment of magic books in…"_

"…bark!...bark!..."

While XLR8 was listening, she began to wonder how so much had happened while she was at the hospital, being gone for so long made XLR8 feel left out. She blinked and looked forward to see that Diamondhead was the only one not talking. Hobbling forward at a faster pace, she caught up to him and the two of them were in front of the team. Diamondhead looked down and saw her, he nodded to her and said, "how is your leg?"

XLR8 paused before saying, "it'ssss good…"

"That's good; I was hoping you would say that. I just want to tell you that I have complete faith in you weather or not you get your cast off and your leg is healed."

"You do?"

Diamondhead nodded and said, "you are, above all, an excellent fighter and you have superb wits. I'm sure that even if you still had the broken leg, you would be able to win."

XLR8 was shocked from this comment but recovered somewhat and said, "Th-thank you…Diamondhead…and I am sure that you will win too…"

Diamondhead made a face and said, "I don't know…I still am not good enough to fight at my best…"

"What do you mean? Of coursssse you are able to fight at your best!"

Diamondhead shook his head and said, "No I am not…look at me…I'm only half a personality that is in a rather large body. If I…or we…it's so confusing…if we don't pull together, I will not achieve stability with my mind and body. The body can go only so far without the mind's help…"

XLR8 was silent, her mind's gears slowly turned while processing this information. All this time, she was worried about her own self and her broken leg. She never took the time to think about other people's problems. For her, her leg will heal in due time but what about everyone else? For Grey Matter, he is small and will continue to be small for his entire life, he would have to face many problems every day that normal sized people do not even think about. Upgrade too will not be able to eat, to smell, to breathe and to enjoy characteristics that organisms get to enjoy. Looking at those two and her other teammate's bad traits, she was glad that currently she only had a broken leg.

Suddenly, the cast on her leg didn't seem so heavy.

Before XLR8 could continue the conversation, Diamondhead stopped. XLR8 also stopped and the teammates behind them suddenly stopped chattering. Wondering what had happened; XLR8 looked forward to see why everyone was quiet.

There, standing in front of the training building's door, was an odd looking fellow. The first thing that XLR8 noticed about him was the way he that he was dressed and how much it contrasted his features. He had on a slick, black colored suit that was iron down and looked spic and span. His arms were crossed with each other leaving his exposed hands that were purple. After this quick look at the suit, XLR8 got a good look at his face and was surprised by what she saw. She saw, instead of a handsome face that might have gone nicely with the suit, an ugly, deformed, purplish face that had two rather large eyeballs and a wide grin. He had no hair and no nose but he did have nicely polished shoes. It took awhile for XLR8 to then recall that this person that was standing in front of them was a Sludge only in a more humanoid form. Before anyone could say something, the Sludge spoke in a voice that sounded like his vocal chords were missing.

"Good day," he said nodding his head a bit, "it is a pleasure to meet the great Diamondhead and his team. Weheheheeeze!"

The Sludge's laugh sounded like a sick man coughing hard, it sent shivers down XLR8's spine.

"But where are my manners?" said the Sludge, "My name is Sludge "Boron" Hammer. Or, as I'm more commonly known, Sludgehammer. Weheheheeeze!"

Diamondhead had a stone expression on his face this whole time, when he did speak he said, "Good day Mr. Hammer, but if you'll excuse us, we got to do some training practice."

"Ah!" said Sludgehammer whose already long grin got even wider, "but of course! But…you'll have to wait for the rest of my team to come out before you can come in. We just got done with a little training of our own."

Diamondhead tipped his head to the side a bit and said, "and who might those be?"

"_They_…" said a harsh voice behind Sludgehammer, "are the members who are in the best team in this camp!"

Out from the door of the building came Cuttooth, an evil expression was upon his face as he stood by Sludgehammer.

"Oh Diamondhead!" continued Cuttooth, "why did you have to take away my dear bride? She was all so happy being with me…"

"No she wasn't!" cried Stinkfly suddenly, "she was miserable and she hated being there in the first place. I bet she hates you even more!"

Ripjaws got a red glare upon his motionless eyeballs, he then said, "how _dare_ you speak out to me like that you…_Fly…?_ Who gave you such right to disrespect the better species?"

"That's enough Cuttooth!" said a feminine voice.

XLR8 focused on the next person who came out of the door, the person was what appeared like a combination between an eagle and a human. She had large feathers shooting out of her arms; these feathers formed a beautiful green and yellow plumage that made her look very stunning. She had a beak like mouth and hair-like feathers sprouting from her head. She wore a purple vest and very baggy orange pants.

The girl grabbed Cuttooth and grasped his shoulder tightly, she then said, "listen now, we don't want to stir any trouble."

Cuttooth shrugged her hand off of his shoulder but did not say anything.

"Oi!" said a cheerful voice, "what seems to be the hold up?"

Coming right out of the door was Ditto and his friend Eyeguy. The two of them looked at Cuttooth in an annoyed way. Ditto then said, "what kind of trouble is Cuttooth been getting into this time?"

Ditto then spotted Stinkfly and suddenly looked embarrassed, he then smiled sheepishly and shrugged as if saying "I never wanted to be with them in the first place."

Stinkfly was also shocked but she nodded her head as if saying, "I know, I know."

Sludgehammer then said, "Oh you know Cuttooth, always wanting to bite someone's head off at any given notice! Weheheheheeeze!"

It was just then that three more things came out of from the door to join Cuttooth's team. One of them looked like a large wolf that stood on its hind legs. Another was what appeared to be a mummy that had purplish glowing eyes. The third one that prowled out of the door was a rather large Vulpimancer quite unlike the species that Wildmutt was. This Vulpinmancer had several, thick orange stripes riding down its back. It also had a longer jaw and bigger, more curved claws. When Wildmutt saw this Vulpimancer he began to growl in a threatening voice.

When the three creatures arrived Cuttooth smugged and said, "and these three monsters over here are Wolfy, Mummy and Vulpine. They are basically our muscle men and cronies. We tell them what to do and they do it, except for Vulpine though, sometimes he might disobey, but we teach him to behave. None of them have ever spoken before so we have all given them names."

"Is that all of your team?" said Diamondhead.

Before Cuttooth could say anything, Sludgehammer said, "not quite. We are missing two members."

"The robot and the new guy," said Cuttooth, "They had to do something important today so they couldn't make it to our little training practice."

"The way I see it…" interjected Stinkfly who pushed her way to the front to meet them face to face, "even if you do any training whatsoever, you will still suck!"

"Watch your mouth Fly!" said Cuttooth getting more and more angry.

"Don't call me a Fly, you Crocodile! I tell you, I have seen pretty mean guys but you take the cake!"

"At least I'm not a Fly!" said Cuttooth looking proud at that comment.

"Oh…so even though I am a…_Fly_…then why is it that your bride is my roommate?"

Cuttooth screamed at this comment and ran forward to Stinkfly with his hands up to strangle her. Four Arms was quick to react to this and he step in front of Stinkfly just in time. He grabbed Cuttooth's arms and held them in stark position. Cuttooth screamed and with quick like speed he slipped out of Four Arm's grasped and grabbed one of his arms. Screaming again, he picked up Four Arms and threw him over his head and slammed him hard to the ground. Cuttooth kicked him once while he was still on the ground and then he turned his head to Stinkfly. Before he could run over to her, Diamondhead quickly grabbed Cuttooth and using quick motions, he tripped Cuttooth and let go of Cuttooth. Cuttooth fell to the ground just like Four Arms though not as hard. It was just then when a mature voice spoke up.

"What's going on here?"

XLR8 looked around and saw coming towards them at a running pace Professor Victor the science teacher. He stopped right in front of them all and said, "that's enough out of all of you! You can do your fighting at the Metal Trial but not on the campus grounds! Cuttooth, how many times have I told you to control your anger?"

Cuttooth by now had stagger up and had an angry expression on his face. In response to Professor Victor's comment, he said, "sorry Professor…" though one could easily tell, that he was not sorry.

Professor Victor turned to Diamondhead and said, "I am sorry for my student's behavior, I hope he didn't give you much trouble."

Diamondhead shook his head.

Professor Victor then looked at Cuttooth's team and shook his head, "Well…come on you dopes, I got to update you on a few things and give you each brief talkings…especially you Cuttooth."

Cuttooth snarled but said nothing, together, he and his team slowly walked away with Professor Victor leaving the scene quiet again. However, not all of the team members left…

XLR8 saw that Sludgehammer was still there, he smiled and shook his head and said, "that Cuttooth can be quite a character. Weheheheheheeeze!"

"Get out of here…" said XLR8 menacingly.

"Do not fret for I am leaving!" he said, "but before I go I must tell you something. The team that you will be facing in the Metal Trial will be us."

He then began to walk off; as he was walking he suddenly stopped and said, "Oh…do you know what the students have decided to name our team?"

XLR8 and the others said nothing.

"Quite a good name actually, we are known as…Team Nightmare. Good name isn't? WEHEHEHEHEEEEZEE!"

Suddenly, the weight of the cast that XLR8 was wearing, felt heavy again.


	54. Double Date

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I'm sorry that it took so long to get this out. I had finals at my school so yeah…anyways…this will be the last of the pointless chapters before the Metal Trial so yay!

A reply to Blau Demon: No, I do not know German but the thing is, my school gets a lot of exchange students from Germany and what I do is I listen to how they talk and then I imitate that onto Upchuck. Thank you for your compliment and I'll keep in mind on what you said.

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Stinkfly held up a purple dress that had white lacing on the sleeves with long, black, stripes running across it. She stood up as straight as she could and she held it up so it was over her body. She turned to Four Arms and said, "How about this? Does this look fine?"

Four Arms briefly looked at the dress and said the same thing as he did with the other dresses, "That looks fine."

Stinkfly made a sour face and walked up to Four Arm's large mirror. She held the dress up and looked at herself. She then shook her head and said, "nope, I don't like this one."

Four Arms sighed, he then squeezed his eyes as he became more annoyed at Stinkfly and her dresses.

"You know," he said, "In my opinion you look great in all of them. Anyone of them will be a good choice."

Stinkfly snarled and said, "Four Arms! I didn't drag all my dresses out to your forest home just for you to say they all look good! You got to say which one of them looks the best!"

Four Arms sighed a big sigh this time and said, "fine! Go with the…blue one."

Stinkfly made an angry face and said, "No! Not that one! That one makes me look fat!"

"I didn't realize insects could get fat…" said Four Arms to himself.

"What was that?" snapped Stinkfly.

"Nothing, nothing! Why don't you then go with the…red one?"

Stinkfly's mouth became thin and said, "the red one is a good choice but it makes me look like a slut. I don't think it would be a good choice for my first date."

"Why are you so picky about what you wear? I've known you for a long time now and you have never become fussy about what you wear."

Stinkfly snorted and said, "well…back then I wasn't trying to look good for anybody."

"What makes this Ditto guy so special?" enquired Four Arms, "never have you once fallen for a guy and now you think he's all the world. How is he different from the other guys?"

By this time, Stinkfly picked up a shiny black dress, while she was looking at it she said, "Well, for one thing he is a gentleman, he is kind to whoever he talks to and he has manners that hardly anyone can meet. He is funny and intelligent but he is not a bore. He seems to have a…"flair"…that defines his personality."

"The way you describe it though, he _does_ sound like a bore."

"He is not! I just…I can't explain it! He's like a book that the longer you read it the better it becomes."

"And books as we all know are interesting."

"Will you hush up and help me with this? Now…how about this?"

Four Arms looked at the black dress and said "That looks fine."

Stinkfly looked at herself in the mirror and said, "No, defiantly not, it makes me look emo."

Four Arms sighed, this could take awhile.

-----------------------------------

Ditto adjusted his bow tie as he was looking at his small, wall mirror. He turned to Eyeguy and said, "how does this look?"

Eyeguy's many eyes looked at him and he said, "that looks fine."

"Yeah, I think so too!" said Ditto.

Ditto took his hands and he began to brush off dust from his suit. When that was done he said, "should I comb my hair?"

"Ditto, you don't have any hair."

"Ah! Of course, I keep forgetting."

Ditto then walked to his bed and began to put on his shoes, while he was doing it he said, "I feel that this date is going to work out very well indeed Eyeguy."

"Hopefully," he said, "though it will be interesting experience since you never really got to know Eaglet."

Ditto stopped tying his shoes for a moment and looked up at Eyeguy with a confused expression, "Eaglet? You mean our bird-like teammate? I don't remember asking her out…"

"But you did," continued Eyeguy, "you asked her out a month ago but she was busy for a long time so you both settled on today to do your date."

Ditto still looked at him with his confused expression, then, slowly, his eyes grew huge and his mouth slowly fell open. He then said, "Shit! I totally forgot all about my date with Eaglet! Why was I so stupid that today was the day?"

"Wait…if you weren't planning to go with Eaglet, then why are you getting dressed up like that?"

Ditto groaned and flopped on top of his bed, he then replied, "I have a date with Stinkfly. I asked her out yesterday and she said yes, so we decided on going today."

Trying to find some way to encourage his friend, Eyeguy said, "perhaps Eaglet will forget all about your date."

Ditto shook his head and said, "No, Eaglet never forgets anything, she keeps track of all her schedules. Trust me, she will remember."

Ditto got up from his bed and said, "Well, thank goodness…"

Ditto then took himself and doubled it. They both looked at each other, smiled and said, "we can be at two places at once."

Eyeguy nodded and said, "yes, that is a relief. However, who gets Stinkfly and who gets Eaglet?"

The two Dittos looked at each other and they both said, "I'll rock/paper/scissors you for Stinkfly."

"You're on!" they replied.

They both pulled back a hand and said out loud, "Rock. Paper. Scissors!" and then they threw forward their choice.

Both came up rock.

They both pulled back their hand again and yelled again, "Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

Both came up scissors.

"Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

Both came up rock.

Eyeguy took a book off from his shelf and began to read it upon his bed; he knew that this could take awhile.

---------------------

_Several hours later…_

Alpha Ditto waited nervously for Eaglet to come by. He was chosen to be Eaglet's date so here he was waiting for her at the parking garage of the academy. He checked nervously at his watch to see what the time was, 5:59. She should be here any minute now. He began to pace up and down the sidewalk at a rapid pace while messing with his bow tie. As he was walking, thoughts zoomed in and out of his head like busy flys that were trying to annoy a person. Such thoughts include…

_What if she doesn't like the place that I am taking her to?_

To…

_What if I mess up and say something stupid?_

The more he thought about it, the more he thought this date was going to be a bad idea. Before he could ponder any more bad thoughts, a voice chirped, "Here I am Ditto."

Ditto jumped, he hated being scared. Patting his chest, he turned around and saw Eaglet standing there with a harangued look upon her face. She wore a glistening blue dress that went down to her feet. The dress contrasted so nicely with her green and yellow plumage that Ditto was speechless for a brief moment. He was able to find his voice once more when Eaglet's violin like voice said, "Well, let's get going."

"Huh? Oh…yeah…right…"

Ditto held out his arm for her to take it. Eaglet didn't pick up the arm hint and she did nothing. Ditto, realizing that this date was probably going to be bad, lowered his arm and said, "come on. I rented a car out for the evening."

"Where are we going?" she said.

"I was planning that we should go to a good restaurant in Butane. I was thinking…Lisbon's All-Star Dining Palace. I hear they have good soups there."

Butane was a large town that was close to the Mineralist Academy. Ever since the Academy opened, Butane became economically successful and had a large population growth spurt. The reason for this was that students from the Academy would on the weekends like to getaway from the work and do something fun at Butane. The students would not only bring money, but also more jobs to do for the citizens of Butane. Some of the many jobs that have sprouted up were restaurants.

"Whatever," she said, "let's just get this over with. You want to drive or should I?"

"I'll drive, but don't worry, I got my licenses. Even though I had to bribe my instructor to get it…"

Ditto looked at Eaglet, he expected a laugh from her but she did nothing. Ditto bit his lip, this was going to be harder than he thought.

"Come on…" he said groggily.

When the two of them left in a rented car, Beta Ditto showed up fifteen minutes later, however, unlike his counterpart he was not nervous. In fact, he was over excited with joy on what luck he had that he was chosen to date Stinkfly. It wasn't long before he spotted Stinkfly.

She was wearing a dark green dress that had small, light green polka dots covering it. The sleeves were wide so they hung down at a low level and she wore black tights that went all the way up to her hips. Instead of emitting a faint toxin smell like she normally does, Stinkfly had a perfume on that had an uplifting feeling to it. The smell made Ditto's heart pound faster. She was clearly not used to wearing such attire for she was walking, instead of flying, rather awkwardly up to Ditto. Ditto smiled at her and waved at her.

She stopped in front of Ditto and said, "…hello…"

"Good evening Stinkfly," said Ditto, "my do you look lovely tonight."

Stinkfly shook her head and said, "nah…I don't…I'm just regular old me…"

"Well, I think that you look good. Shall we go?"

Ditto held his arm like his Alpha counterpart did for Stinkfly to take. However, unlike last time, Stinkfly took the hint and she gladly hooked her arm with his. The feeling of another body pressing up against Ditto's made Ditto feel all warm inside.

"So…where are we going?" inquired Stinkfly.

"We…are going to Benzene's Brewery. I heard that their deep fat fried steak is delicious!"

Alpha and Beta Ditto both agreed to take their dates to different places so they wouldn't meet each other and thus create chaos. In fact, both stores are on opposite sides of the town.

"Oh I love Benzene's Brewery!" replied Stinkfly, "I go there sometimes to get myself some beer!"

Ditto looked at her oddly and said, "I didn't know you are old enough to drink."

Stinkfly smiled mischievously and said, "I'm not. But I convince the owners there that since I'm no longer a larva, I can drink beer because I'm an "adult."

"Ah…"

Together, they walked into the parking garage, while they were walking, Ditto said, "So, should I drive or should you?"

"I don't care, you can drive."

"Okay, it's a good thing then that I have passed my driver's ed. course…even though I had to in the end bribe my Driver Instructor…"

Stinkfly laughed and said, "I'm not worried, I'm sure you didn't have to pay him off that much to get your licenses."

Ditto smiled and said, "Well…"

Stinkfly laughed again.

--------------------

At Lisbon's All-Star Dining Palace Alpha Ditto's date was going harder than expected. Not only has the drive over to Butane been awkwardly quiet, Eaglet has not once laughed at any of his jokes. Alpha Ditto was just glad that they finally arrived at the restaurant. When they got inside, they were immediately shown to a table near a window. After a brief silence, Ditto finally broke the ice and said, "So…are you pumped about the Metal Trial?"

Eaglet made an odd clucking sound and then said, "I wouldn't say that I was "pumped," more or less I feel ready and I am confident that I will do well."

"Yeah…and we still have several days to get ready, we're on the third day correct?"

The Metal Trial, instead of taking just one day to be completed, is a collection of days. Each day has two matches or, team vs. team, per day. There is a match in the morning and a match in the afternoon. Since there are 32 teams left, that means that the Metal Trial will take eight days to complete.

"Correct, it is on the third day. We're on the afternoon match."

"I don't know about you but I'm sort of worried. I mean, we are facing Diamondhead's team. They're supposed to be good and I mean _good_."

Eaglet tossed her head from side to side half heartily, she then said, "Yeah, they maybe good but have we ever lost before hand? Every challenge that we have faced we have thoroughly beaten. We have developed such a high reputation amongst the Academy because of that. Besides, you do realize that everyone has given us the nickname of Team Nightmare?"

Ditto's mouth became thin and then he replied with, "yeah, but it is mainly thanks to our teammates. Cuttooth, Wolfy, Mummy, Sludgehammer, Vulpine…and…him."

Eaglet sucked some water into her mouth with a straw before saying, "Him?"

"You know…Tenten."

Eaglet raised a feathery eyebrow and said, "Oh. Tenten, of course."

"Of all the players on our team, he is the one that scares me the most."

"Really, if you should be scared of anyone on our team you should be frightened of Cuttooth."

"Oh I'm scared of Cuttooth believe me. It's just that…Tenten…he's a robot…"

"And that makes you uncomfortable?"

"Well, yes, because, he has no heart, no emotion. He's not alive, he's just a bunch of metal parts joined together with a battery that gives him movement. I don't know…there's just something…cold…about him."

Before Eaglet could respond to this the waiter walked up to the two of them and said, "may I take your order?"

Eaglet was the first to respond and said, "yes, I'll take the special soup of the day."

Ditto smiled and said, "Same here."

After the waiter left, Alpha Ditto looked at Eaglet and said, "You know Eaglet. We have a few things in common. It reminds me of my favorite quote, "Great minds…"

------------------

"…think alike," finished Beta Ditto.

Stinkfly laughed and replied wittily, "true, but fools seldom differ."

Ditto closed his eyes and nodded his head, "so true, so true," he said.

After taking a drink from her Bolshevik Cocktail, Stinkfly eyed Ditto intensely while saying, "So, why didn't you ever tell me you were on…Cuttooth's…team."

Ditto, surprised by this comment, suddenly looked embarrassed. He then said, "It's not like I'm proud of that fact. I don't go around and tell everyone I meet that I'm on Team Nightmare."

"True, but you should have told it to me instead of just hiding it."

Ditto said nothing; in fact he looked even more embarrassed.

Stinkfly noticed this and said, "it's okay. I can understand why you wouldn't want to say it to everybody. However, please tell me what your team is like."

"Well…despite of having the name Team Nightmare, some of the members are not that bad."  
"Such as?"

"Well…me…Eyeguy…and um…hmm…"

Ditto saw the comical look upon Stinkfly's face when he began to stall, he then quickly said, "Well! My teammates aren't bad all of the time!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really! Why just the other day, Cuttooth didn't threaten me!"

"Well that's good. I'm glad that Cuttooth has a heart of gold."

Ditto sensed the irony in Stinkfly's voice and replied, "Yeah, well…Cuttooth is not what you would call the kindest thing that ever swam the ocean."

"But what about that bird teammate of yours?" said Stinkfly questionably, "what's her name?"

"Oh you mean Eaglet?"

"Yes, what is she like?"

Ditto bit his lip, he then said, "She is an interesting bird…"

"How so?"

"Well…she's not kind or mean…she's more or less…indifferent. Like…all of her opinions are based off of fact and logic. It's like; all of her emotion has been drained from her soul."

"That sounds like Diamondhead."

Ditto nodded his head and said, "Indeed it does."

It was here that the waiter came by and delivered the food to them. Ditto received a deep fat fried steak while Stinkfly received a large helping of potato salad with a side of sugar cubes.

The two of them, who were very hungry by that point, quickly grabbed their forks and exclaimed, "Dig in!"

----------------------------------

Alpha Ditto thought it was very amusing the way that Eaglet ate her soup.

Since she didn't have any cheeks, she couldn't get her spoon into her mouth like you or I would. Instead, she would raise her head so her beak was at an angle to the ground. While having her mouth slightly open, she would take her spoon and, very carefully, lift it so that is was at the end of her mouth. She would then dump the contents into her mouth, clamp her mouth shut and then swallow it whole. She then repeated the process.

When Eaglet saw Ditto gawking at her eating habits, she put down her spoon and said, "You know, it is rude to stare."

"Oh! Right, sorry."

Ditto quickly lowered his head and he began to eat his soup at a rather fast pace despite it being almost boiling hot. After fifteen seconds, he stopped eating really fast just so his mouth could cool down. Not wanting to have another awkward silence come about, he said, "So…does your species ever use spoons when feeding?"

"Rarely, normally we like to swallow things whole. However the exception to this is when the morsel is too large. We first cut it in half with a knife and _then_ we swallow it whole."

"Ah."

After drinking a glass of ice tea, Ditto decided that his soup needed pepper. Spotting a nearby pepper shaker, he reached over and picked it up. When he was reeling it in, his elbow accidentally knocked over his bowl of soup. His bowl of soup was so near the edge of the table that it tipped over and spilled all over Ditto's lap.

The pain of the very hot contents that was all over Ditto's lap was so big, that Ditto jumped up and began grunting very loudly in pain. His first thought was to get something to dry his pants as soon as possible. Without thinking, he grabbed his napkin and began to rub his pants furiously hoping that it would dry quickly.

Could this date get any worse?

---------------------

At that same moment, Beta Ditto made an odd yelping sound and he jumped up so fast that his chair fell over. He then began to hop up and down while cursing and rubbing his pants. While he was doing this, Stinkfly got up and ran over to him. She then said, "Ditto! What's wrong?"

Ditto apparently didn't hear her for he was saying more to himself then to her, "goddamnAlphawhatthehelldidhedo?Motherfreaking…grrrr…."

When he was done grunting he looked up and saw Stinkfly, he suddenly looked so embarrassed that his white face turned pink. Stinkfly, who was confused at what just happened, slowly said, "so…do you want to pay for the bill together or separately?"

Ditto, who wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and die, quickly said, "Oh but my dear madam, I shall pay for our eating tonight!"

"Oh that's sweet, but you don't have to Ditto."

"Ah but I insist! You made this a wonderful evening for me and I must repay you somehow."

Ditto then put his hand in his pocket to see how much money he had in his wallet. When he found nothing, he checked his other pocket and then his suit pocket. He still didn't find any wallet. Then it hit him, Alpha Ditto has the wallet and he didn't! He had to think up something fast in order to pay for the meal.

Several tables away from him, he saw a man got up from his table. By the looks of it, he might have been heading for the bathroom. As he was watching the man, Ditto was suddenly struck with an idea.

"Excuse me Stinkfly; I have to go to the bathroom."

Stinkfly nodded and she returned to her seat to finish eating her potato salad.

Ditto, then followed the man, Ditto was correct, he was heading to the bathroom. When the man entered the restroom, he waited patiently outside the door for him. When the man came out, Ditto quickly walked right into him. When he did this, he said, "oh I'm sorry, excuse me."

The man nodded and continued back to his table. Ditto continued into the bathroom and then he locked the door. He then held out his right hand and saw a black as night wallet upon it. Ditto smiled.

"Easy as pie."

He exited the bathroom with a confident walk. He smiled at Stinkfly when he sat back down. The waiter came by with the check and said, "would you like to order desert sir and madam?"

Ditto checked to see how much money was in the wallet, after checking, he said, "yes please!"

---------------------

Alpha Ditto didn't feel like eating desert. In fact, he felt like leaving.

He was looking at the fish that were swimming around in their little aquarium because he was bored out of his mind and they were the only things that he found entertaining in the restaurant.

As for Eaglet?

She was talking on her cell phone to a friend of hers. Ditto didn't know nor did he care much on what they were talking about. She was on her cell phone for about ten minutes now and showed no signs of slowing down. Ditto just wanted to pay and get out of here.

Finally, when the waiter did come Ditto quickly paid him for the meal with his wallet. He then got up and said to Eaglet, "come on, we're leaving."

Eaglet nodded and continued talking on her cell phone. She too got up and together, they went out of the restaurant and to their car.

------------------------------

"…so then I said…BUT WILDVINE! THOSE AREN'T MY PANTS! HAHAHAHAHA!" exclaimed Ditto.

Stinkfly snorted and started laughing so hard that tears came to her eyes.

"Oh…my…gawd that is sooo funny!"

"Hehe…yeah…"

Ditto took a deep breath and let it all out slowly he then continued to eat his ice cream cake. The two of them were silent for a moment, then, Stinkfly said, "Ditto, I just thought of something."

"Yes?"

"Well…our team will be facing your team right in the Metal Trial right?"

"Oh the Metal Trial! I forgot all about it!" said Ditto, "yes, it starts tomorrow, though we don't fight until day three on the afternoon. So?"

"Well…what if we fight each other?"

Ditto was silent for a moment. He then said, "if we have to fight each other…we got to make sure we do our very best. We must leave behind any emotions and feelings for one another when we enter the stadium. We must not harbor any guilt, regret or sadness when we fight each other. If we do not fight at our top potential, then we would not be true to ourselves and to our team."

Stinkfly nodded, "I see…" she said slowly.

Stinkfly was silent for a several seconds before she said, "Ditto. After this tournament, we will probably never see each other again…"

"How so?"

"Well…the rules state that the losing team goes home packing and the winning team stays at the academy…so…"

"Oh…right. And no matter which way you look at it, one of us will be the loser while the other the winner."

"Ditto, after the tournament, do you think we will see each other again?"

Ditto thought about it for awhile before saying, "I think so. I mean, if I give you my address…and my country…and my planet…and my solar system…and you give me your addresses. I'm sure we'll see each other again in the near future."

"Do you really think so?"

"I do."

"Well…that makes me feel a little better…so…thank you Ditto!"

"My pleasure."

Stinkfly took a drink and said, "Mmmmm…Ditto you ought to try this! This is nectar mixed in with the scents and flavors of flower petals! It's delicious!"

"Alright, let me see that."

Stinkfly handed Ditto the drink. When the thick liquid touched the tasted buds of his mouth, he felt like he was in heaven. He loved every feeling of it, he loved how it moved across his tongue, how it had such a sweet and stupendous taste, and how it moved down his throat, it was so good, he said, "mmmmm…that IS good!"

-------------------------

_One minute ago…_

When Ditto and Eaglet got back at the academy, Eaglet said to Ditto, "Ditto…I really had a good time so thank you for spending some of your evening with me."

"Oh…well…your welcome Eaglet. I am glad to hear that this little date of ours didn't turn out so bad after all."

Just then, Ditto tasted something so very delicious in his mouth. He had no idea what it was, but he didn't care, it tasted so good! The tasted was so powerful that he closed his eyes and said, "Mmmmmmmmm! That's good!"

"Pig! Were you checking me out?"

Ditto opened his eyes and realized to his horror on what he just said, quickly he said, "No! No I didn't mean it like that!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever, goodnight Ditto!"

And with that, Eaglet opened her wings and she flew out into the night.

Alpha Ditto sighed and began to walk home. As he was walking, he was thinking about how Beta Ditto was doing with his date…

Ten minutes later another car drove into the parking garage of the Academy. A little while later, Ditto was strolling out of it with Stinkfly linked arm to arm with him. When they were out of the parking garage, Stinkfly said to Ditto, "Ditto, I had a wonderful time! Thank you so much for taking me out to eat with you!"

"Aw, it was nothing; I just wanted to spend some personal time with you, that's all."

"Well…I had a great time…and…I'll see you later!"

Stinkfly then kissed Ditto on the cheek. Winking at him she said, "Bye!"

She then flew off into the night leaving a lovestrucked Ditto behind.


	55. The first day of the Metal Trial

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I don't own the game whose name makes a cameo in this chapter! Note: I updated this chapter pretty quickly so you might have missed the previous chapter "Double Date."

---------

It was the first day of the Metal Trial and the whole Academy was buzzing with excitement. Classes had been canceled for eight days and all school and home work screeched to a halt. The only time that the Mineralist Academy had this much excitement running through it was the Water Trial. And even then, everyone agreed that the Metal Trial was getting more of the "buzz" then the Water Trial.

Even Diamondhead was getting a little excited.

At the stadium where the Trial was being hosted, Diamondhead was eagerly following the limping XLR8 to their seats. Since it was a free for all when it came to grabbing your own seats, Diamondhead and XLR8 left early together to get some good seats. However, everyone else had the same idea so even though it was more than an hour and a half before the Trial started, the stadium's hallways were jammed pack with students who were busily trying to get some good seats. Luckily, Diamondhead and XLR8 squeezed through the traffic jam of students and they were able to get to a place with good seats.

When the duo sat down, Diamondhead took a good long look at the arena for which the fights were going to be held.

The arena was shaped like a long oval with flatter ends and was as long as a human's football field. The arena was also raised two meters above the ground and several meters away from the arena was a tall wall that surrounded it. Above this tall wall was where the seats for the spectators began. The arena itself was of a rocky terrain that looked like it came straight out of a desert. The ground looked dry and dirty and there were random boulders that randomly popped up across it. The boulders varied in size and shape but it had that same, brownish color that the arena itself had.

After seeing the arena, Diamondhead said, "You know, even though the Trial is supposed to be about metal, I keep thinking about the Earth Trial. I mean look at the terrain, it's nothing but rocks and boulders on a withered landscape. I know that the Metal Trial is supposed to be a symbol of war, but the least they could have done is at some brass or copper into it…"

XLR8 nodded and said, "I agree. And in my opinion, the Earth Trial ssseemed more like a Sssnow trial."

Diamondhead nodded, and then all at once he remembered something that he had almost forgot about. He turned to XLR8 and said to her, "XLR8, have I ever told you about what happened to me at the Earth Trial?"

"No, why? What happened?"

"Well…it was so long ago that I don't quite remember the details but…when I was on the mountain with Blizzard…someone shot a rocket at us."

"What! Who?"

"I don't know…" Diamondhead began scratching his head as he tried to remember more, "all I remember is that the rocket just barely missed us but it hit the side of the mountain causing a huge avalanche. We were lucky to survive the avalanche and get the flag but we didn't catch the person who shot it at us."

XLR8 had a concerned look on her face, she then said, "Diamondhead, doesss anyone want you dead?"

Diamondhead shook his head, "No, nobody that I know of that is. But why would anyone want me dead?"

"You could be a threat."

"A threat? For what? I haven't done anything."

"You forget, you're the best ssstudent in the Academy. Maybe, sssomebody wantsss you dead ssso there would be no competition."

"I suppose so."

Something then dawned on XLR8, with an inquisitive voice, she said, "All these Trialsss. They certainly have unusual namesss. Forest (or Wood as it'sss sssometimesss called), Earth, Water and Metal; why are they all named like that?"

"I really have no idea XLR8, nobody has ever told me the meaning behind the names. But I have a guess though… it might have something to do with ancient philosophies."

"Ancient philosophiesss? How ssso?"

"Well, in many ancient cultures. The world was perceived as being made of five elements. Each element was equal to another and each had different roles and meanings about life. The five elements were Wood, Metal, Water, Earth and Fire. Their role in life was to help guide the civilizations on decisions and such.

"Huh. Interesting. Ssso you're telling me that all of our trialsss are based off of sssome ancient philosophy? Who wasss the nut who decided that?"

"I don't know, but whoever it was came up with some good and tough Trials."

"Yeah…ssso far we've had to fight against a group of predatorsss, survive an immensely tall and cold mountain, and defeat sssea monster robotsss. Now we have to fight each other. Thisss Trial isss going to be tough."

"Yeah, but I'm worried about something else."

"What?"

"Well, so far we've had three (soon to be four) Trials done. So…according the five elements theory, we have one Trial left.

"…Fire…"

"Exactly."

The two fell silent for awhile. While they were silent, as time moved on, more and more seats began to fill up the stadium. The quiet sound of excitement soon grew to a loud chatter as more and more seats were taken up. All of this excitement finally got to Yin and he was kicked out and was replaced by Yang.

"Oh the excitement! I can't hold it in me any longer! This is going to be soooo cool! It's going to be kick ass! Don't you agree XLR8?"

XLR8, who had grown sort of use to Diamondhead changing on her like that, said, "Not really…I'm just more or less nervous."

"Ah don't be nervous you'll do fine! Hey, for now, let's enjoy this match! It's going to be sweet!"

Suddenly, the announcer came on, his deep but pleasant sounding voice hushed the excited crowd as he began to talk.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to the first match of the Metal Trial!"

The stadium went into an uproar with applause and shouts.

"The teams that will be facing each other are Team K and Team O. The rules are simple. There will be at least three rounds and at max five rounds. The first team that wins three rounds is the winner of the match! A round is won if a fighter is thrown out of the arena, or if the fighter falls to the ground and fails to get up in ten seconds or if the fighter admits defeat. Now, it's time to announce the contestants for our first round!"

The crowd, along with Diamondhead, began to yell as loud as they could after all of this was said.

"First off, for Team K, it's…Buzzshock!"

The crowd roared as Buzzshock zoomed into the arena, he smiled and waved to the crowd.

"And facing him is his opponent from Team O…Digdug!"

From the other side of the arena stumbled out a creature that looked like a cross between a large armadillo and a mole. He had a large shell-like back and had large paws with long claws coming out of it. He had a rather long nose with feelers on the end of it but he had no eyes at all. He had short, pointy ears and a reptile-like tail.

"Ready…" just then, the stadium's bell rang once, "…BEGIN!"

Buzzshock floated up and then zoomed right to Digdug. Digdug sensed this and he quickly tilted his bulky body to the side with surprising agility. While he was doing this, he raised his left hand and used it as a club to attack Buzzshock with. Buzzshock however reacted quickly enough and he stopped fast enough to miss Digdug's attack. However, Digdug's right hand was already prepared to use an upper cut. His clawed hands grasped tightly and then he punched Buzzshock squarely on the chin.

Buzzshock flew through the air and he slammed into a nearby rock causing much dust and debris to be thrown up into the air. While Buzzshock was recovering from this attack, Digdug began digging into the ground at a fast rate. When his entire body was inside the ground, he quickly covered up the hole and he disappeared into the ground. When Buzzshock was up and running again he saw that his foe was gone. However, instead of panicking, Buzzshock closed his eyes and began to hover in mid-air very calmly. He then quickly opened his eyes and with his hands he began to form a small lightning bolt. With quick-like moments, he moved the lightning bolt in the air as if he was a conductor leading his orchestra forward. The lightning bolt was at first hazy and jagged but it soon became clear and smooth.

Suddenly, out burst from the ground was Digdug with his claws in a position like he was about to catch Buzzshock. However, Buzzshock was ready for this and with his lightning bolt, he threw it at Digdug. The lightning bolt shot through the air and stabbed Digdug. The small lightning bolt made a small clap of thunder as it hit Digdug.

However, even though Digdug was electrocuted, that didn't stop his momentum in anyway. His rather large body slammed into Buzzshock which made Buzzshock lose his concentration and, with the stunned Digdug, the two fell to the ground. The two, who were badly injured by this point, struggled back up. Buzzshock was about to zoom away when Digdug grabbed him by the foot and using all of his strength, he threw him back down to the ground again. Digdug then pulled back his foot and he kicked Buzzshock to a nearby boulder. Buzzshock flew through the air and he slammed into the rock. He then fell to the ground not moving.

Overhead, the announcing voice went, "I…2…3…4…5…6…7…"

Suddenly, a blue, electrical ball went whizzing through the air. It caught Digdug by surprise and it landed squarely on his stomach. The ball exploded upon impact and the electrical energy that was in it traveled into Digdug's body. When this happened, his body shook and quivered at a fast rate for several seconds. When all of this was over, he was in a daze and his motionless body just stood there.

It was here that Diamondhead got a good look at Buzzshock. Even though he was far away he could tell that Buzzshock was angry at his opponent. His eyes glowed with a bright yellow and electricity danced around him at an intense rate. When he saw that his opponent was still standing, he zoomed forward and preparing for another attack. When he was right in front of Digdug, he put his hands on his chest. Buzzshock then sent 60 million amps through him. This was enough force to topple Digdug over onto his back. When the attack was over, Digdug just laid there. The announcer began the count again.

"1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10! The winner of round one is Buzzshock from Team K!"

The crowd went wild with cheers as the first round of the first day of the Metal Trial ended.

The Metal Trial has officially begun.


	56. The Night Before Match Six

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** You know how in some stories you can guess what's going to happen next but the author does something completely unexpected? Yeah, well that's going to happen.

---------

Upgrade looked at the time; he had been in the Academy's library for so long that he completely forgot what time it was. A clock on a nearby showed that it was 9:04. Upgrade looked at it and nodded to himself.

_I better leave and go to bed, otherwise I won't be prepared for tomorrow's fight,_ he thought.

It was already the second day of the Metal Trial at the academy. However, the day's events have already past by. By total, four matches have been fought so far which means twelve matches were left to be done with. Upgrade's team's match was tomorrow in the afternoon. That left him plenty of time to sleep and recharge himself.

Speaking of recharging, Upgrade checked his battery power to see how much electrical energy he had left. He was surprised to see that only 10 remained.

"Woah," he said to himself, "When was the last time I recharged myself?"

Leaving that question unanswered, Upgrade got up from his seat and stretched. Even though he didn't feel tired like real biological creatures do, he sometimes acted like it because it made him feel more human.

With his large smoothed hands, he swept up his books from the table and plopped them into his backpack. Zipping up the backpack, he hoisted it rested it upon his back. His single eye gazed thoughtfully around the library in a respectful way. Many times he has been to this great library. Could this be his last time?

Upgrade shrugged and walked towards the exit of the building.

-------------------

Blizzard was lying on the grass in the Academy's park. Her shoes were off so she could spread out her toes and her hair band was undone so her hair could flow freely. She looked up into the starry night wondering if her team had any chance of winning or not. Whenever she wanted to think or to brood about something, she would always lie down upon the ground and look up to the stars. The stars had a way of opening her mind and letting her thoughts go.

It was quite relaxing.

The sound of footsteps suddenly caught her attention. She raised herself up to see who it was that was making the noise. To her surprise, she saw Upgrade walking through the park with books in hand and a large backpack on his shoulder. Even though Upgrade was walking towards her, he had not yet spotted her. For a split second, Blizzard wanted to hide herself from him so she wouldn't be seen. However, she decided against that quickly and she stood up.

"Hello Upgrade," she said.

Upgrade, startled by her sudden presence, stopped quickly. With slight hesitation he replied, "Good evening Blizzard."

"Mind if I walk with you to our dorms?"

Upgrade looked at her oddly and said, "…Okay…sure…"

Blizzard and Upgrade then started walking upon the grayish sidewalk towards their dorms. Somewhere off in the distance, Blizzard could hear the wind howling through the land. It moaned like a poor soul that was trapped in the mortal world forever. The sound made Blizzard shiver in anxiety as it reminded her of a bad memory.

She looked up into the sky once again and saw the stars twinkling back at her, she turned to Upgrade and said, "Upgrade, point to me the star in which you come from."

Upgrade stopped and looked up, with one of his fat, slim fingers, he pointed to a bright star.

"See that star? The one that's very bright and blue?"

Blizzard followed Upgrade's finger to the sky and found which star he was talking about. She then said yes.

"Well, go two stars to the right and that's the star that my home planet…or moon…comes from."

"You were born on a moon?"

"Well…yes, the moon is called Galvan B and it orbits the planet Galvan Prime. Also known as the planet that is home to the Galvans, or Grey Matter's species."

"So was it the Galvans who made you?"

"Partly, they were the one's that introduced the nanotechnology to the moon. The nanotechnology bonded with the unique minerals of the moon and it made a life form. However, it was Wildvine, my mother, that took this life a step further and made it complete with A.I. I am the first, and possibly will be the only, of my kind."

Upgrade lowered his hand but he still looked up into the sky with silence. Blizzard suddenly felt shame and pity for Upgrade. Any bad thoughts that she had of him were suddenly lifted and gone.

Feeling that she needed to change the subject quickly, she said, "Beautiful evening out."

Upgrade looked down from the sky and looked at her with his round, single eye. He then looked forward and said, "My senses tell me that it's negative one degrees Celcius."

"And a good temperature too! Back where I come from, we had to suffer temperatures that were far lower than that. Do you know what kind of things cold temperature does to one's makeup?"

Upgrade shrugged and said, "I wouldn't know since I never did put on any makeup."

Blizzard ignored that comment and continued by saying, "Plus, I heard that it will snow tomorrow, that would be good wouldn't it? I haven't seen it snow for such a long time."

When Blizzard was done talking she noticed that Upgrade was looking at something in the distance. Blizzard, curious at what he was looking at, turned and saw a figure approaching them. She could hear the figure talking in a low and putrid voice while it was stumbling across the grounds.

"…shitty team…" he said, "…why did it have to lose the damn match…? Now…now…I'm done for…damn…shitty…team…"

As the figure hobbled closer, Blizzard grabbed Upgrade's arm tightly. Whoever this guy was, he looked and acted drunk.

As the figure walked closer, Upgrade whispered, "Come on, we don't need to get in his way, let's get out of here."

Blizzard nodded and the two of them quietly began walking away. However, it was too late for the figure spotted them.

"Hey! You…Stop!"

Upgrade and Blizzard began walking faster hoping that they would lose him. However, this proved of no help for the figure began a combination of running and stumbling towards them. Blizzard and Upgrade saw no other option except to stop and face him to see what he wanted.

When they turned around to face him, Blizzard finally got a good look at their pursuer and was somewhat surprised at what she saw. A nearby sidewalk light post faintly illuminated some of the chaser's features. Their pursuer looked like a Detrovite for he was very big, orange and ugly looking. Right after she saw him, she noticed that he had no left arm; instead he had what appeared to be a mechanical arm with a mace in place of his hand. He reeked of alcohol and something else that smelt very bad. Upgrade then said, "What do you want?"

The Detrovite looked at Blizzard with a pig-like grin and said, "Her."

Once he said that, Blizzard shivered again not because of the cold but of the disgusting sound that filled his voice with that single word.

But Upgrade, not deterred by this, stood in front of her and said with a calm voice, "I suggest you kindly leave sir for you are offending and scaring her."

It was here that the Detrovite raised his mace hand and swiped it at Upgrade. The mace connected with his torso head on and it sent Upgrade flying through the air. Blizzard screamed as Upgrade fell to the ground and rolled to a stop. Frightened on the spot, she watched in horror as the Detrovite slowly walked towards her with a stupid grin upon his face. But after taking two steps, Upgrade ran up and tackled him to the ground. While the two were down, Upgrade shouted, "Run Blizzard!"

Blizzard shook her head and said, "No, I won't leave you Upgrade!"

It was here that the Detrovite threw off Upgrade. He quickly got back up and in a drunken rage, ran right towards Upgrade with his mace held high in the air.

Upgrade however was too quick for him and he dodged the attack easily. The Detrovite was too slow to react to this movement and he tripped and fell to the ground.

Upgrade began to slowly back away as his foe struggled back up, "This is bad," Upgrade said, "I can't defeat him unless I have something with technology nearby. Otherwise we're going to have to make a run for it."

Blizzard at first was too scared to even think about running but then she snapped out of it and said, "Right, let's get out of here!"

"Oh no you don't!" said the Detrovite who got back up, "you're going to be mine pretty little lady!"

He then screamed and ran right towards her, Blizzard also screamed but with horror instead of rage. Before he could get to her Upgrade ran up and tackled the Detrovite again and was once again successful enough to teeter him off balance and throw him to the ground. However, the Detrovite had other plans and he quickly tossed Upgrade off like he was paper and he put his foot on him.

"This will be the last time you mess with me green dude!" he said.

Blizzard ran up to him and began hitting him with her fists while screaming, "Get off of him! Get off of him!"

The Detrovite looked at her and smiled evily, he then pushed her over like she was nothing and he focused his attention back to Upgrade.

Blizzard didn't know what to do, but then she remembered something. To make sure she was right, her right hand grabbed her left wrist to see if she was correct.

There, on her wrist was a watch.

It wasn't much but it would do, taking it off, she yelled, "Upgrade! Catch!"

She threw the watch through the air. Upgrade raised one of his hands up and he caught it. The watch slowly absorbed into his skin and he began to transform.

Though his legs, arms and head remained the same, his body began to distort and flatten out. It slowly rounded out and became a circle with numbers appearing on the sides. Then, popping out of his chest were two clock hands that whizzed about. When he was done transforming he made a slight ticking sound.

The Clock Upgrade pushed off the Detrovite with amazing strength and he got back up. Upgrade then said, "Times up my friend! Your clock has just been cleaned."

Blizzard groaned at the puns.

Upgrade then closed his eye and began making a weird noise. The hands, slow at first, began to speed up faster and faster, his ticking sound gradually quickened and his body began to glow brighter and brighter. When his hands were running at a super speed, he opened his eye and shot out a laser beam. The laser beam, instead of hitting the Detrovite, stopped in midair and began to flatten out. The beam made a weird whirling sound and slowly it grew and became a vortex. When it was done growing, the vortex was large and spirally like a hurricane and electricity pulsated from it as it hummed. Then, it howled loudly and it began to suck everything in like a horrible vacuum. The vortex's first victim was the Detrovite. He tried to hold his ground against the wind but he was too weak. He was then lifted off of the ground and he flew through the air and into the vortex. Blizzard was also being pulled in too along with Upgrade, when she grabbed Upgrade she yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" he yelled back, "BUT WE'RE GOING TO FIND OUT!"

Blizzard then hugged Upgrade tightly and yelled, "HOLD ME! DON'T EVER LET GO!'

Upgrade also hugged back tightly and said, "DON'T WORRY, YOU'RE SAFE WITH ME…HANG ON!"

Blizzard felt herself being lifted into the air along with Upgrade. The two of them shot through the air and into the vortex.

The vortex closed leaving everything quiet as it once was.

---------------------

Blizzard had her eyes closed the whole time, hoping with all her might that things will be alright. Her grip upon Upgrade was stronger then ever.

She then felt the sensation of falling through the air and the landing onto the ground. The two of them rolled to a stop. When Blizzard opened her eyes, she realized that it was day time.

But then she noticed something else.

By the looks of it, the whole academy was in chaos. Buildings were on fire and people were running about screaming in horror. She heard the screaming sounds of a spacecraft and she looked up to see one hurtling through the air while shooting down students all over the place. Blizzard gasped and said, "Upgrade! Where are we? This can't be the academy can it?...Upgrade?"

She looked down and saw that Upgrade was still on the ground not moving.

"Upgrade!" she repeated in hysteria, "Upgrade what happened to you?"

She knelt besides him and raised his head up to see if he was alright.

Upgrade groaned and raised his hand up to touch her face softly, he then said, "No…you're wrong Blizzard…not where…when…when are we?"

"When? What do you mean 'when' Upgrade?" she yelled.

"Power…gone…sorry…Blizzard…I leave you alone…in this cold world…forgive me for not…protecting you…"

His hand fell to the ground and his head became limped. His bright green lines became a dull green color and he became lifeless. Blizzard looked around at the chaotic scene and said slowly as it dawned on her, "when…when…we're in the future…"

Suddenly, Blizzard felt very, very alone.


	57. The Missing Members

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Gah. I wish Grey Matter was real. That way, I can have him help me understand Calculus better…

---------

The alarm clocked buzzed annoyingly in Grey Matter's room. Grey Matter's large, round eyes opened slowly and then he blinked several times. Rising up slowly, he yawned, stretched and jumped out of his little bed. Walking across the floor and then jumping on a nearby table, Grey Matter turned off the loud alarm clock and stretched again.

"Morning Upgrade," he said sleepily.

Upgrade didn't respond, Grey Matter, figuring he was still asleep, repeated himself again in a louder tone, "Good morning Upgrade!"

Still no answer, wondering why Upgrade wasn't getting up, Grey Matter focused his attention to Upgrade's bed.

It was empty.

"Hullo, that's a bit odd," said Grey Matter to himself, "Where could he be?"

It then occurred to Grey Matter that Upgrade wasn't even in his bed when Grey Matter turned off the lights the night before. So if Upgrade didn't sleep in his room, where did he go?

Grey Matter became concerned, this was never like Upgrade. He always slept in this room ever since the first time the two of them met. Hardly ever did he sleep any where else on the campus.

Grey Matter's first thought was to call Upgrade's internal phone. Jumping off of the table, Grey Matter went to his cell phone and called Upgrade's number. After two rings, a mechanical voice said, "The number you have dialed is no longer in service."

After hearing this message, Grey Matter became even more concerned and confused. If he wasn't on the campus, where could he be?

Grey Matter had to get to the bottom of this. Putting his cell phone in his pocket, he began pacing around the room with his mind working full gear. First, Grey Matter tried to remember hard when he last saw Upgrade. Then he remembered that he last saw Upgrade in this very room. It was some time in the afternoon and the two of them were relaxing and playing video games. Then, Upgrade said he had to go somewhere to do some research…where did he want to go?...library, that's it.

Grey Matter stopped pacing. After thinking this, he nodded to himself in pure determination. He would go to the library to see if anyone saw him there.

Forgetting entirely about breakfast, Grey Matter slapped on some clothes and he went straight to the library. When he got outside of his building, a blast of cold air hit him straight on. Pulling down his hat so it would cover most of his face, he took off.

---------------

Diamondhead knocked impatiently on Blizzard's door. He had been knocking for a long time and Blizzard still didn't answer her door. Diamondhead knew that she was a hard sleeper but this was ridiculous. Normally when Diamondhead knocked on her door it usually took five minutes for her to answer it. Now it has been almost ten minutes and she still hasn't answered her door. Frankly, it was ticking Diamondhead off.

Yang thought otherwise.

_Ah come on Yin! She probably had a hard night partying and now she's sleeping it off._

Diamondhead shook his head and said out loud, "but this is different Yang, today is our match for the Metal Trial. I got to make sure that all of my teammates are up and ready to go at three o'clock. Including Blizzard."

_You know, if I were in your position, I would leave her alone and let her sleep the whole morning. Nothing like a little sleep to get the body working again!_

Yin said nothing. Instead, he looked up and down the hallway to see if anyone was there. When he saw nobody, he took his right index finger and made it into a little key. He then took his finger key and stuck it into the lock.

_My, my Yin, are you actually going to break in without Blizzard's approval?_

"Desperate times…call for…desperate measures…there…got it."

The lock made a clicking sound and Diamondhead tried the knob. He opened the door slowly just in case he caught Blizzard without any clothes on.

With the door opened slightly he called out, "Blizzard? Are you up yet?"

Blizzard didn't respond.

Wondering why on earth Blizzard wasn't talking, Diamondhead flung open the door to see that the room was empty.

"What the?" he said.

_Interesting, it appears that Blizzard has already gotten up without us having to wake her._

Diamondhead, who was shocked by her not being here, quickly said, "No…it can't be…she never gets up this early!"

Just then, a cool, feminine voice came forth from behind Diamondhead, "Diamondhead? Why are you in Blizzard'sss room?"

Diamondhead jumped and turned around to see XLR8 standing there.

"Oh, good morning XLR8," said Diamondhead awkwardly.

"Yesss…" said XLR8 suspiciously, "may I ask again why you are in Blizzard'sss room?"

"Blizzard wasn't answering her door so I…barged in to see if everything was alright…"

XLR8 raised an eyebrow, she then walked forward and said, "I'm sssuprised you checked to sssee if she wasss in here."

"What do you mean?"

XLR8 raised her other eyebrow and said, "Don't you know? Blizzard didn't come back last night. In fact, hardly anyone hasss ssseen her for awhile."

Diamondhead frowned, "this is serious," he said, "We have to find her. If she's not here in today's match and they call her up to fight then…"

Diamondhead trailed off not wanting to finish his statement but XLR8 knew what he meant. She nodded and said, "then come on, we got to find her before itsss three o' clock."

Diamondhead nodded back and said, "Right, let's get to it."

-------------------------

When Grey Matter climbed up the long steps of the library he discovered that it was closed.

"DAMNIT!" he yelled, "Then when the hell does it open?"

A sign on the door answered his question. The sign said, "Due to the importance of the Metal Trial, the library will be closed until the end of today's matches. Have a nice day!"

Grey Matter read the sign several times; it then dawned on him that today was his team's Metal Trial.

"Ah crap," he said, "one _more_ thing to worry about…"

Grey Matter stood on the library's steps for almost a minute thinking. The library was his only hope in finding Upgrade. If today wasn't the Metal Trial, he would have waited until the library opened and then asked if he was there. However, since the Metal Trial was today, he couldn't take that kind of risk. He would have to think up a new plan.

Suddenly, his stomach gurgled and groaned. It then occurred to Grey Matter that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet. He was so concerned about finding Upgrade that all thoughts about eating were forgotten about. Grey Matter, who really wanted to continue searching for Upgrade, decided to go eat breakfast to fill his stomach up. After all, he couldn't think on an empty stomach.

As he was walking across the campus, he saw something strange up ahead. At first, it looked like two discolored lumps of rocks; however, a closer look told Grey Matter that they were backpacks. As he got near to the backpacks, he saw that one of them was Upgrade's.

Grey Matter stopped. He stared at the backpack like he was hypnotized by it.

He then quickly moved forward and inspected the backpack thoroughly. Just as he thought, it was Upgrade's. This puzzled Grey Matter even more, what was Upgrade's backpack doing in the middle of the campus?

Grey Matter looked at the other backpack, perhaps the other backpack would tell him who was with Upgrade.

It took him awhile, but he eventually found a daily planner in the backpack. Opening the backpack he discovered that it was Blizzard's.

Upon discovering this, Grey Matter couldn't help but say out loud, "Blizzard? What the? Why the hell was Blizzard with Upgrade?"

Many perverted thoughts then entered Grey Matter's brain after he had spoken that question. However, he chose to ignore those thoughts for he deemed them too disgusting.

"Grey Matter?" said a deep voice, "what are you doing?"

Grey Matter turned around and looked up to see Diamondhead and XLR8 standing there.

"I…" he said while standing up to his full height, "am looking for my friend Upgrade."

"What a coincidence," said Diamondhead, "we're looking for Blizzard. Any idea where the two might be?"

Grey Matter shook his head, "No, I don't. However…" he then pointed to the two backpacks behind him, "I have found their backpacks."

Diamondhead scowled, he then said, "You found their backpacks right here?"

"Yep."

"Curiouser and curiouser…" he said scratching his chin, "I suppose you didn't see Upgrade for all of last night?"

"As a matter of fact I did not…why…has no one seen Blizzard for awhile…"

It was this time that XLR8 answered, "We haven't ssseen her for a long time. In fact, everyone we have talked to sssaid they didn't sssee her last night."

"Hmm…that is interesting…what do you think Diamondhead?"

Diamondhead didn't respond, instead, he was looking at the ground.

"Diamondhead?" said Grey Matter who was annoyed, "Did you hear me?"

While still staring at the ground, Diamondhead said, "The ground is very clean…"

Grey Matter looked at Diamondhead like he was nuts, however, XLR8 responded to this with, "what do you mean Diamondhead?"

Diamondhead, who was still staring, said, "Look at the ground. It's entirely devoid of dust, sand or leaves. Compared to the other parts of the campus, this little spot seems very clean."

Grey Matter looked at the ground and noticed it too, he then said, "yeah…it looks like a vacuum cleaner came by and sucked everything up…"

"Do you sssuppose that thisss hasss sssomething to do with Blizzard and Upgrade?" questioned XLR8.

Diamondhead shrugged, "I don't know. However, seeing how their backpacks are right here. They could have something to do with it."

A gust of cold wind slapped Grey Matter in the face, tightening his scarf, he said, "Let's get going to the cafeteria…I'm starving and it's freakin' cold out here!"

Diamondhead nodded and said, "Right, maybe we'll find our teammates there. Perhaps they know what happened to Blizzard or Upgrade."

However, after they got to the cafeteria and had talked to Four Arms, Stinkfly and Ripjaws, they soon realized that nobody knew where Upgrade or Blizzard was.

Even Ghostfreak, with her magical powers, didn't know.

"_I'm sorry Matthew,"_ she said, _"but I have cast my locater spell several times and I haven't been able to locate them yet."_

Grey Matter cursed under his breath. It had been midday and they still hadn't found them.

"If only we could go back in time and try to find out where they had gone…" Grey Matter grumbled.

"_You can,"_ said Ghostfreak, _"though not literally of course."_

Grey Matter looked at her oddly and said, "How so?"

Ghostfreak pointed a ghastly finger at a nearby security camera. She then said, _"If we looked at the security camera's video tapes. Maybe they can help us clear up this mystery."_

Grey Matter thought about it and replied, "You know…I think that will work. We'll be breaking several school rules though for seeing them illegally but that has never stopped me before! Come on Penelope! To the security department!"

Since it was still midday, most of the campus was at the stadium watching the morning Metal Trial round, this made it easier for Ghostfreak and Grey Matter to sneak into the security department and have a look around.

After having Ghostfreak magically unlock some doors, knocking out a few guards, and Grey Matter hacking into the computers with the stolen passwords, the duo finally got the security cameras room.

Grey Matter jumped on a nearby table and said to Ghostfreak, "I'm going to track down Upgrade, take the video tapes over there and track down Blizzard. With any luck, we'll find out where they have gone to."

So with that, the two started working hard to find their missing comrades. Grey Matter was eventually successful in locating Upgrade on the cameras and he was able to track him down to the library. After fast-forwarding much footage, Upgrade eventually walked out of the library with his books and backpack in hand. With Grey Matter's watchful eyes, he followed Upgrade all the way to the park where he met…

"Blizzard…" he said underneath his breath.

After he said this, Ghostfreak then stated, _"I too found the two of them together. By what I have seen, Blizzard was at the park for the entire evening last night."_

Grey Matter put his hand to his mouth and thought hard, he then pressed the fast-forwarding button on the machine.

"Okay…so they met at the park…the question now is…where did they go after that?"

After briefly talking Upgrade and Blizzard eventually walked out of the park, as they were walking the two of them suddenly stopped and for no apparent reason they started moving in another direction.

"Hello…" said Grey Matter, "that's odd…"

Then, another figure came into view, Grey Matter whose heart thumped faster and faster, leaned forward and viewed the scene in anticipation.

After an exchange of words Upgrade, who had dropped his backpack at this point, and the figure suddenly got into a scuffle. After several precious moments, Blizzard threw something (Grey Matter couldn't tell due to the blurriness of the camera) at Upgrade. Upgrade caught it and his body slowly transformed into something round. Then, he shot a laser beam out of his eye which made something that began floating in midair. This thing (Grey Matter had no idea what it was) began sucking everything up. At first, the backpacks were moving towards it but their straps caught onto a bench and they were latched onto it. Then, the attacking figure was the first body to go into it followed by Upgrade and Blizzard. When their bodies went through it, the thing disappeared and everything became still again.

Grey Matter, who was stunned by what just happened, said, "Woah…that's intense…"

"_I think we might have found the solution to our problem."_

"Yeah…I think so…"

"_Judging the scenario I say that whatever caused this was the item that Blizzard threw at Upgrade. When Upgrade morphed with it perhaps he created some sort of portal that transported them somewhere else."_

"Yes…but where?"

"_Alas, for now, we do not know. Hopefully, we can find that out soon."_

Grey Matter nodded. Even though he was a bit sad that Upgrade was gone. He was not worried about him. He knew that Upgrade was a sensible guy and he could be relied upon. If Upgrade got himself into this mess, he could get himself out of it.

It was here that Grey Matter looked at the clock which read 2:35.

"Holy smokes!" he exclaimed, "The Metal Trial starts in fifteen minutes! We got to get to the stadium!"

Not bothering to turn off the videos, Grey Matter and Ghostfreak rushed out of the room and the building. The two of them then took off to the stadium hoping they'll get there on time. When they finally got to it, they saw that many students that just got back from lunch were entering the building. Grey Matter turned to Ghostfreak and said, "Great! We got here on time! Now we got to find our team!"

Just then, Stinkfly came zipping up to them. With eagerness in her voice she said, "Where were you two? We have been waiting for you! Come on, we got to get to the balcony!"

"Balcony?" said Grey Matter who began to quickly follow Stinkfly, "What do you mean balcony?"

"The two teams that are facing each other in the match get a special balcony that is located near the top of the stadium. It's sort of a special privilege thing."

Grey Matter nodded and kept running after Stinkfly. Once they were in the building, they went up several flights up stairs and down several halls until they got to a door that was marked "V.I.P. only", Stinkfly opened the door and the three of them went up the long fleet of stairs.

Once they got to the top, Stinkfly opened a door and they walked into a small room. The room was very rectangular in shape with concrete walls, floors and ceilings. There was a large pane of glass that was at the front of the room which overlooked the entire arena and most of the stadium. On the right side of the room was an elevator that said "To Arena Floor" while the left side of the room had a water cooler. Inside the room, was Diamondhead, XLR8, Four Arms, Wildmutt and Ripjaws.

When Grey Matter saw them, he rubbed his hands and said, "Great! Besides Upgrade and Blizzard are we missing somebody?"

In unison Diamondhead, XLR8 and Four Arms said "Heatblast."

Grey Matter's jaw fell open, "You mean he's _still_ not back yet?"

XLR8 snorted, "Typical," she said, "He'sss never around when you need him."

"Nobody has heard from him since he left," continued Diamondhead, "not even Ripjaws."

Ripjaws made a sad face and mumbled an apology.

"Well…" said Grey Matter taking in the situation, "we're screwed."

BAM!

Everyone jumped. The door suddenly swung open revealing Blizzard and Upgrade. They looked unclean and dirty, and they smelt faintly of soot and ash. Blizzard's hair was in a mess and she was breathing hard.

"Are we too late?" said Upgrade.

"Actually…" said Diamondhead looking at the clock on the wall, "you're on time."

"Oh thank heavens!" said a relieved Blizzard, "We're on…haha…ha…we're on time…"

It was here that Blizzard finally took a good look at everyone in the room; she then burst into tears and began sobbing uncontrollably. While she was doing that, she began yelling, "No! Please forgive me! I didn't mean for you to die!"

Upgrade grabbed Blizzard and held her tightly in his arms. While he was doing that, he whispered something into her ear which Grey Matter couldn't quite pick up.

Just then the announcer came on and XLR8 said in her cold voice, "We'll have to worry about thisss later, for now, we got a Trial to do."

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" cried the voice, "Welcome to the sixth match of the Metal Trial!"

The crowd erupted into an applause with many screams and whistles.

"The teams that will be facing each other are Team A and Team N. The rules are simple. There will be at least three rounds and at max five rounds. The first team that wins three rounds is the winner of the match! A round is won if a fighter is thrown out of the arena, or if the fighter falls to the ground and fails to get up in ten seconds or if the fighter admits defeat. Now, it's time to announce the contestants for our first round!"

Once again the crowd erupted into cheers; everyone in the room became tense as they waited for the first name to be chosen. Grey Matter rubbed his hands in excitement, his heart was pounding harder than ever and his nerves were on the edge. Soon, his team's Metal Trial will begin…

"First off…in Team N its Wolfy!"

The crowd erupted into cheers when Wolfy the Loboan entered the arena in a calm, demon-like way. He neither waved to the crowd or respond to it. He just stood there, waiting.

"And for Team A…Blizzrard!"

Everyone in the room turned their attention to Blizzard who froze on the spot. Her tears rolled down her cheeks until they eventually froze upon her chin.

"Me…?"


	58. The Metal Trial: Future Memories

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Hey everybody! I bet you didn't expect the first participant to the Metal Trial! Speaking of which, I am making a contest. All you have to do is send in your guesses on who will be fighting in the Metal Trial. The due date for this will be at the end of this round. The one who gets the most right will win a prize! Maybe naming future characters (cause I suck at naming things) or a spoiler?

---------

Blizzard wiped away her tears and said, "Surely they can't mean me?"

Diamondhead looked at her uneasily and said, "They called your name Blizzard that means you got to go down and there and do your best."

Blizzard looked uneasily at the elevator and nodded her head slowly, "Alright…I'm going…"

Upgrade stepped forward and said, "If you guys don't mind, I would like to go down the elevator with her and see her off."

Diamondhead nodded and said, "Alright, but don't be long, they won't like it very much if you stay very long in the arena."

Upgrade quickly said thanks and he lead Blizzard to the elevator. When the doors opened, the two quickly entered.

As the doors closed the last thing that Blizzard saw was Stinkfly saying out loud in an enthusiastic tone, "Good luck! Beat that sucker for us!"

Blizzard smiled and the doors closed shut.

Once the elevator started moving down, Blizzard turned to Upgrade and said, "Upgrade! I don't know how I will live with it! I can't stand seeing…"

But Upgrade cut her off, "Don't say the person's name out loud!" he warned, "We can't risk anyone overhearing us! If someone does, the future might change drastically!"

Blizzard gulped and said, "But Upgrade, I just can't stand it! What should we do while we wait for the future to come? Should we wait in agony and despair while we wait for the person's death? Should we not do a thing about it?"

Upgrade was about to say something but he hesitated on it, he then said, "Blizzard, everyone dies, it's only a matter of time before anyone leaves this world."

"But people don't die by being killed with bullets!"

"I'm sorry to say this but they do. They do."

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Upgrade grabbed Blizzard and said to her firmly, "Listen. If we know anything we know this. We have seen the future, we know the outcome of it, _we_ can still do something about it. The future can be changed."

Blizzard looked at Upgrade with a mixture of sadness and fear. Upgrade then gently nudged Blizzard forward, "And for now, I suggest worrying about _your immediate_ future. You got a match to fight remember?"

Blizzard took a deep breath and let it all out slowly. She then said, "Yes, I remember. And I also remember that I have to win it."

Upgrade said nothing but his face contorted a little that made it almost look like he was smiling sweetly. Blizzard stepped out of the elevator and waved goodbye to Upgrade who waved back. Slowly, the doors closed and Upgrade was there no more.

It was then that she realized that the crowd was screaming for the match to start. The noise was so deafening that she almost covered her ears. As she faced the arena, she saw in front of her stairs that went right up to the arena. Taking a deep breath, she walked forward.

Once she was on the arena she stood at a certain spot where she could see her opponent clearly. Wolfy stood there looking at her like a predator that was making a plan to attack his weak prey. Once she was ready the announcer's voice said, "Ready…" just then, the stadium's bell rang out, "Begin!"

Without hesitation, Wolfy ran towards her at an alarmingly fast pace. Surprised by such speed, Blizzard's first action was to run away, but she firmly told herself not to do so. Instead, she raised her arms and she shot a beam of ice at her attacker.

The Loboan saw this and dove to the ground in time, the icy beam just missed his head. Quickly he got back up and resumed his chase, however, Blizzard by now had already formed her sword and shield and was ready for his attack. Getting in a defensive position, she prepared herself for his onslaught.

Once he got up to her, Wolfy pulled back his left arm and did a downward swipe. Blizzard raised her shield and defended the attack. The large claws met with the shield and they scraped across the sides doing hardly any damage to it. Blizzard then raised her sword and slashed with it. The Loboan, who was still recovering from his first attack, tried to regain his balance and jump away from the oncoming sword. Though he succeeded somewhat in this, the sword was still close enough that it swiped across the brute's chest. Immediately upon entering, blood began to ooze out and the beast howled out a cry of pain. Angered about his pain, the Loboan curled his right fist and he swung out at Blizzard at a great speed.

When Blizzard saw this coming she raised her shield up to protect her but as she was doing so something came to her mind.

_Ratatatatatatatata!_

"_Get out! Get out of the way!" screamed a voice from the distance._

_Ratatatatatatatata!_

"_He's down! Four Arms is down!"_

"_We got to save him!" a familiar voice said._

"_No time! No time! We got to get you to a safe place!" said another familiar voice, "There will be dire consequences if either of you are killed!"_

_Ratatatatatatatata!_

Blizzard pulled herself back to reality, just as she did so, the fist connected with her shield and shattered it into pieces. So powerful was the force that she fell backwards and she hit the ground hard.

Wolfy then quickly hunkered over her and raised his claws again. Timidly, Blizzard raised her sword but the beast swiped at it causing it to twist out of her grip and fall to the ground.

When he raised his claws again Blizzard shouted, "No! Keep away! Keep away!"

While she shouted that, she involuntarily raised her hands and fired an ice beam at her opponent. The ice beam slammed into Wolfy's stomach and was so powerful that it flung him across the arena stage. He flew through the air and landed hard on the rocky ground. When he made contact on the ground he began to roll all the way to a stop. He laid there motionless.

Blizzard blinked. Of course, she has the ability to attack at long ranges due to her ice powers. She can just keep attacking the Loboan from the distance and she will win in no time.

That is…if he gets up.

The announcer up above began to countdown, "1…2…3…"

Just then, Wolfy began to stir, he began to try with all his might to get up.

"4…5…6…"

Slowly, he pushed himself up and he then stood on his two bare feet while wobbling a little. Blizzard bit her lip; she was hoping that her attack would knock him out. She then smiled and shrugged. If she hit him one more time, she should be able to knock him out for good. She raised her arms again and prepared another ice beam at him.

However, something weird happened. The Loboan's mouth began to peel backwards like a flower that was opening its petals. His face contorted and twisted making him look all the more ugly. He then gave an ear splitting howl and shot a purple beam from his mouth.

The purple beam warbled through the air at an intense velocity. Dropping her attacking stance, Blizzard lowered her arms to the ground and shot ice at it. At a quick rate, the ice grew upwards and was able to block the purple beam in time. However, the beam was so powerful that it shattered the ice into shards. The beam continued on and hit Blizzard. Blizzard screamed in agony as the beam went through her delicate ice skin.

"_Come on! We got to get going!"_

"_No! We got to save them!"_

Blizzard gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. She tried hard to block the memory but it still played too vividly in her brain.

Pain was coursing through both her body and her mind.

The attack stopped and the horrible sound was gone.

She fell to the ground in a horrible _crunch_ and laid there whimpering

She felt like she was laying there for hours, but in reality, it was just mere seconds.

The sound of footsteps tiptoed into her ear. She raised her head and saw with her have closed eyes her predator coming nearer and nearer to her.

"No…" she said, "I got to keep fighting…"

She clenched her fists so hard that it hurt her palms. But she didn't care, she didn't want to let her team down. She struggled and she slowly got to her knees. Breathing hard, she began a painstaking journey onto her feet.

But her opponent was too cruel for her. Instead of letting her up, he pushed her down with his arm and he stepped on her lightly with his foot. Blizzard groaned and screamed lightly and tried to push him off. But he was too heavy.

The Loboan opened his mouth and he fired a purple beam onto her right arm.

Blizzard screamed as she felt her arm vibrate intensely while under the beam. The pain was not like anything she had felt before in her life. Then, she could feel her arm slowly shattering. She began to lose feeling in her fingers, hand, wrist and arm. She couldn't feel the sensation of squeezing her hand shut or the bending of her elbow. All of it broke away and she felt nothing. Blizzard screamed again and she could hear the faint tinkling of the pieces of her arm hitting the ground lightly. When this happened, the beam stopped and the creature backed away slowly.

Blizzard laid there in silence, tears ran down her cheeks as she reacted to the intense pain. Dimly, she could hear the announcer's voice call out the numbers.

"1…2…3…4…"

This was it, she was done, she lost, she was through.

She closed her eyes and waited for it all to be done.

"_I'm scared Upgrade!"_

"_There, there, we will get through this. One way or another."_

"_Do you really think so?"_

"_I do. I really do, so don't you worry your pretty face about this. We will get out one way or another."_

Blizzard opened her eyes. Yeah, they did get out of their future mess. Upgrade was right.

And then another, more recent memory came to her mind.

"_..we can do something about it…the future...can change…"_

"…6…7…"

Blizzard quickly raised her left arm and she fired an ice beam at Wolfy. The ice beam slammed directly into the bottom of his jaw. His whole body was jolted upwards as his jaw slammed shut, breaking several of his sharp teeth. He staggered backwards and he clutched his jaw in agony.

With a renewal of strength and energy, Blizzard quickly got back up. Just then, a cold wind blew forth from the world and was blown upon her. The wind restored her confidence and power giving her an upbeat of energy. Then, using the power of the wind and moisture that was in the air, she grew back her arm at a superb rate. She felt the feeling in her fingers again and she smiled mischievously like an imp. Her new right arm glistened beautifully against the clouded sunlight.

She then faced her opponent and cried out with confidence that could match Grey Matter's,

"I have not yet begun to fight!"


	59. The Metal Trial: Blinded

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** None at the moment….enjoy!

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Blizzard lowered her arms so her hands faced the ground. She then fired an ice beam at the ground which struck the ground with cold precision. The ground then began to rumble and then icebergs began to grow from the ground. The icebergs shot out of the ground like mountains growing at lightning speed. The icebergs began to move forward towards Wolfy the Loboan. Wolfy saw the oncoming icebergs and he quickly jumped to the side while narrowing missing one. He opened his mouth and shot his purple wave beam at them. The purple beam severely damaged them and they cracked into large pieces. However, this was what Blizzard wanted him to do.

When the icebergs broke into pieces, she ran forward and picked up many of the shards. She then threw the shards with dead on accuracy at her foe.

Seeing how he couldn't block them all or shoot them all down with his purple beam, Wolfy did a dodging dance around the incredibly fast shards. However, after many seconds, he was soon hit by one of them in the shoulder.

He howled a horrific howl and he pulled the shard out of his shoulder. However, now that he has stopped with his dodging, more shards began to penetrate his furry skin. He howled again and again as more and more pain erupted throughout his whole body. Looking for someplace to escape the barrage of icicles, Wolfy ran up to a large boulder and hid behind it hoping that it would provide him with some defense. It worked, he was safe for now. Suddenly, the ice shards stopped flying and all was still in the air. Wondering why Blizzard had stopped with her attack, Wolfy cautiously peaked over the boulder to see what the matter was.

Amongst the shards that were upon the ground, Blizzard was standing there panting heavily. Apparently, making the large icebergs and throwing the shards rapidly made her incredibly tired. Though the shards that were embedded in his skin tormented him dearly, Wolfy forced himself to not pull them out. Instead, while Blizzard's guard was down, he opened his mouth and he fired his purple wave beam at her. Blizzard didn't expect him to attack her so she got the full frontal assault.

The moment she was hit she flew backwards and landed on the ground. She rolled to the stop and she laid their momentarily. Knowing that he didn't have much time, Wolfy hunched behind his rock and began to pull the shards slowly out of his various body parts. When the painful process was done, he got back up to see that Blizzard was already standing up, and she looked pissed. Then, slowly, Blizzard lowered her hands and made her palms face the sky. She then closed her eyes as if she was meditating.

Suddenly, the weather turned for the worse. Wolfy felt it get colder and colder. The wind began to howl louder and blow faster. The clouds deepened into a darkish gray and then, without warning it began to snow. The falling of the snow grew faster and faster and soon it became a blizzard. The howling of the wind blew the snow around and around faster and faster until it was twirling in mid air. Wolfy shivered and he tried to peer through the snow to find Blizzard. But, the snowflakes were so dense that he could barely see her, and then, she disappeared into the snow.

Wolfy began to panic but he tried to not show it. It had now finally occurred to him that this was Blizzard's doing. He knew now that he was a sitting duck and he had to do something fast otherwise he was done for.

He began to quickly look around in all directions, hoping that he would his opponent. However, this proved to be useless because the blizzard was so thick that he couldn't see anywhere. No matter, his nose will find her.

THWACK!

Wolfy felt something powerful hit him on his back and he staggered forward. He then howled horrifically as the pain erupted from his back. He felt around his back and eventually pulled out a large, bloody shard. Wolfy's eyes widened. Where did that attack come from? Surely he would have sensed it coming with his nose or ears? But as the snow blew around him something occurred to him.

Blizzard had _become_ part of _her_ blizzard.

Panicking, Wolfy began to run, not sure of what he should do.

THWACK!

This time, a shard hit the back of his calf muscle. He fell forward and he hit the cold ground. His impact caused dust to rise up from the ground and it fell back down calmly. With his cold and numb fingers he quickly pulled the shard out of his calf muscle. He tried to stand up but with one leg basically useless, he was holding his whole body on his left leg.

Not wanting to go down without a fight, Wolfy began to blast at random places, hoping that he could hit the snow gal. But the purple beams just went through the snow, not doing any damage to it. He was so blinded by his fear that he hit the ground several times causing much dust to rise up from it. So much of this dust floated upwards that soon he was surrounded by it. He panted heavily and waited for the final blow from Blizzard.

But it never came.

Wondering why she stopped, Wolfy held his ground and waited.

It wasn't until the dust settled that Soon he was struck on the side by Blizzard's ice beam. The severe coldness of the ice beam was more harsh than usual due to it smashing right into one of his wounds. He howled again and he fell to the ground. His mind was racing again and though he wasn't the brightest bulb in the factory, he was able to figure it out.

His beam made the loose dust on the ground fly upwards. This dust shielded him from Blizzard. Blizzard, while she could see through the snow, could not see through the dust. His clawed hands gripped the loose dust in gleaming triumph as he was able to figure out how he could defeat his opponent.

Using his last ounce of strength, he wobbled back up. He then took a deep breath and fired at the ground. The force of the beam was so strong that rocks and dust and gravel fired up into the air causing a mini-sand storm. The loose particles were thick in the air as the wind blew them around. The air was now a mixture of snow and dust. He was now on even footing with his enemy. He can't see her, and she can't see him.

Now he waited.

Soon, the shielding that the dust provided began to weaken. Then, there was an opening where he could only see pure snow and no dust. He opened his mouth and…

There she was!

Through the opening, he saw Blizzard materialized through the snow, with her in her true form, he fired his purple beam.

While he was doing this, she simultaneously fired her ice beam.

The beams met and the forces of them were so strong, that they detonated on impact.

---------------------------

Back on the balcony, Blizzard's team watched anxiously as the battle progressed. However, when the snowstorm hit, they could no longer see what was happening in the arena.

So they waited.

After awhile, an explosion suddenly appear somewhere in the middle of the arena. The force was so strong that the shockwaves could be felt all the way to the balcony. However, the explosion was still not strong enough to clear away all of the snow and dust so the arena was still cut off from the rest of the world. After the explosion happened, Ghostfreak said, _"An aura has gone dormant."_

Everyone turned their heads and looked at her oddly. "Excuse me?" enquired Stinkfly.

Ghostfreak focused her single eye at Stinkfly and said, _"Every living thing in this world emits auras that are unique to the living creature. The auras vary from person to person and each aura has its own unique waves, frequency, color and etc. Auras also tell when a person is tired, awake or sleeping/unconscious. A little awhile ago, there were two auras that were being emitted from the arena. However, now there's just one that is pulsating frequently, and one that has gone dormant."_

XLR8 looked at her questionably and said, "Do you know who isss the one that isss ssstill conciousss?"

Ghostfreak faced the arena again and said, _"Unfortunately, I do not. However, once the debris clear. We will find one person standing and one person down. The round has ended; we will soon know our winner."_


	60. The Metal Trial: The First Intermission

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Hey everybody! I kind of got this chapter up really quickly so you might have missed the previous chapter. I also want to tell you that it will be awhile before I get the next one up. But you won't mind will you? I mean, I like got three chapters up rather quickly. So enjoy this short chapter!

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As the snow storm died down and the wind slowed down to just a breeze, the dust and snow slowly began their trek downwards. The crowd waited tensely to find out who, if anyone, was still standing.

Finally, when all was settled, the crowd saw Wolfy standing on the ground, and Blizzard lying near him. When the announcer saw this he began his countdown, "1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10! The winner is Wolfy the Loboan!"

When the countdown ended, Wolfy collapsed onto the ground. After a grueling battle, he had won, but just. Medics from the sidelines rushed in with stretchers and carefully placed the fighters onto them. While only two medics were required to take Blizzard away, several were needed to haul the large Loboan away. As they were taking them off, Stinkfly said, "Do you think she will be okay?"

Diamondhead nodded and said, "She'll be fine. Blizzard's a tough gal underneath that pretty exterior of hers. She will be up and running in no time."

"For now…" continued XLR8, "we must worry about usss. With one round lost we will have a harder time recovering. With that sssaid and done, we must do our best these next few roundsss."

Upgrade, angry at her comment stepped in and said, "Hey! Blizzard tried her best out there! She didn't crumble out there like we all thought she would! She held her ground and pulled off some amazing moves!"

XLR8 looked at Upgrade and said, "I did _not_ sssay she fell apart out there. All I mean isss, ever her best wasn't enough. She did all she could, and she ssstill lost."

Upgrade looked at her with feelings of angry and regret. What XLR8 said was true, even though Blizzard called upon the forces of nature to help her. She still lost. There was nothing anything could do about it.

Upgrade looked at everyone in the room and said, "I'm going to go see her. I'm going to see if she is alright."

When he was about to leave, Diamondhead grabbed him firmly with his sharp hand. He looked at Upgrade squarely in the eye with his steel colored eyes. He then said calmly, "Upgrade. Please do not leave us. Though Blizzard is an important team member, we must stick together through this match. Besides, what if they call you during the match to fight?"

Upgrade looked at him silently; he then shrugged off his hand and said, "Who cares about the match? I'm going to find out if Blizzard is alright."

He then walked out of the room in a quick fashion.

Grey Matter looked at Diamondhead who looked stressed out, he then said, "Don't worry. If his name is called, he'll be here. He won't back down from this."

Diamondhead looked at Grey Matter and said quietly, "I hope so…I hope so…"

When everyone was cleared from the stage, the announcer started up again with his rolling baritone-like voice. "Now that everyone has cleared from the arena…it's time for the second round!"

The crowd roared in delight and in jubilance, after such a fight in the first round. The next round should be just as equally exciting.

"First off…on Team A it's…Four Arms!"

"ME?" yelled Four Arms who upon hearing his name staggered back a few steps as if he was delivered a blow. Grey Matter laughed and said, "Well, good luck then buddy! I'm sure that with your strong muscles you'll win in no time!"

"Woo!" screamed Stinkfly, "Go Four Arms! You can do it!"

Diamondhead smiled, which was a thing Yin rarely did, and patted Four Arms on the shoulder, "Hope you win Four Arms."

Four Arms smiled hesitantly and said, "…haha…er…thanks guys!"

He then looked at XLR8 who was silent this whole time. When their eyes met, XLR8 shrugged and said, "Good luck Prince Four Armsss."

Four Arms smiled and said, "Thanks XLR8."

After saying goodbyes to everyone, he got into the elevator (he had to crouch a little since the elevator proved to be a little small) and he waved goodbye to everyone.

When the elevator doors opened again, his heart was beating quickly. He took a deep breath and started taking steps forward. Once he entered the arena, the sound from the audience erupted and became extremely loud. Everyone was shouting Four Arms name over and over. After all, he was quite popular with a lot of folk.

While he was waving to everyone, he heard a cold voice behind him. The voice was so starkly different from the rest of the crowd that Four Arms could hear it as clearly as he could see the ground.

"Well, well, it'sss been a long time…Prince Four Armsss."

Four Arms' eyes widened. That voice, it couldn't be…could it? It has been so long since he heard the maliciousness of the voice but he still remembered it ever since the day he heard it being spoken from the forked tongue of the person. Slowly he turned around to see who his opponent was.

There, standing tall and proud amongst the boulders, was DCELR8.


	61. The Metal Trial: Speed vs Strength

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** New aliens eh? No problem! Though, the story will be so long now that I don't know when it will be done….

--

Four Arms looked DCELR8 with an expressionless look upon his face, finally he said, "DCELR8…it's been a long time no?"

DCELR8 grinned and said, "Yesss…it hasss been."

Four Arms rubbed his chin and said, "last I heard…you were dead up in the mountains…"

"I wasss…that isss…that'sss what _they_ thought. But in reality, I wasss alive and well. Though, I can't sssay the sssame for my arm and leg."

DCELR8 then raised his right arm and put out his left leg. Four Arms looked at them briefly and saw that they were just robotic limbs. Continuing on, DCELR8 then said, "my arm and leg did not sssurvive the harsh cold that the mountain had…but I don't mind. My new limbsss feel ssstronger than ever! And not only that…but I'm faster too! Faster than even my dim witted cousin XLR8!"

Before Four Arms could respond to this comment, the announcer's voice came on, "READY…BEGIN!"

The stadium's bell clanged and before Four Arms could even blink, DCELR8 disappeared in a flash. Then, he felt a hard, metal punch into his gut. Four Arms cried out first in astonishment and then in pain. He only saw DCELR8 briefly before he disappeared again. Four Arms then hunched over and grabbed his stomach in agony. The pain was so intense that even the smallest of movements hurt. And in all that fury and pain, he hardly noticed that his first aid kit was thrown to the side. The contents though still stayed in its leathery, frayed bag.

Then, he felt a hard kick to his right shoulder and again he cried out in astonishment. He then toppled over to the hard, rocky ground. He slowly opened his eyes and saw DCELR8 standing in front of him looking smugged. He then pulled back his metal leg and kicked him in the stomach again. The force was so strong that Four Arms was kicked in the air like a foot ball and came falling back down. He landed upon the ground and rolled to a stop.

Not wanting to look weak in front of his friends and everyone who was watching him, he slowly got back up while wincing.

"You…" he said while taking deep breaths, "How are you…able to kick me without breaking your leg?"

DCELR8 laughed at this comment and said, "Weren't you paying attention Four Armsss? My new leg isss reinforced with sssteel and electricity. It isss many timesss ssstronger than my kind'sss average leg."

"And you, my friend, are still many times stupider than I am."

DCELR8's mouth contorted into a look of anger as he said, "you shall pay for that comment!"

DCELR8 was about to spring off into action again but this time Four Arms was ready. Without hesitating, Four Arms lifted his arms high in the air and slammed them back on the ground. The large fists sent chaotic vibrations across the arena and shook the earth violently. DCELR8 was cut off guard by this attack and he tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. Four Arms took this precious moment and sprinted forward to the downed fighter as fast as he could.

"Hey DCELR8! Think fast!"

Four Arms then pulled back two of his fist and rocketed them forward to DCELR8. The fists landed squarely upon his fragile body and he went flying through the air. DCELR8 was launched into the air, he flayed his arms and legs as best as he could to slow him down but it was of no use. He soon fell back down and landed so hard that dust and ice flew up in the air and came soothingly back down.

DCELR8 cursed out loud as he struggled back up. He spat onto the ground and squinted his royal blue eyes. With a little pain in his voice he ferociously whispered, "Alright…no more mister nice guy…"

He then leaned forward and with a flash he disappeared from Four Arms view. Four Arms quickly tensed his muscles and hunkered down ready for the next blow. However, instead of a punch or a kick like he was expecting, he suddenly felt something sharp slice through his upper right arm. The object dug in deep into his arm and he felt his own muscle tendons snapping as they were shredded away. Four Arms gasped and clutched his wounded arm, he felt thick warm blood poor from the deep cut. He tried to grasp his hand but it would only faintly respond to his brain's command. After the traumatizing attack, his first thought was too wrap his arm around his bandages as soon as possible to stop the bleeding. But before he could think any further, another attack happened. This time, he felt the same shredding sensation on his left calf muscle. His weakened leg gave way to his large bulk and he fell to his knees. He screamed a horrific scream as every nerve cell cried out in both pain and misery. By now, the blood that was spilling out of his arm began to drip upon the dry, icy floor.

Four Arms breathing became sporadic and his eyesight began to blur. He tried with all his might to grasp the real world and not fall unconscious. In then occurred to him that his first aid kit wasn't with him. At the moment he hadn't the faintest idea where it went but he knew he must reach it in order to quickly treat himself.

Then, DCELR8 appeared in front of him. He reached over to Four Arms' neck and he grasped it lightly with his clawed hands. An evil smile appeared on his ugly, blue face.

"Did you know Four Armsss," he said with his grin getting bigger, "that I alwaysss wanted to kill you?"

Four Arms coughed and said almost jokingly, "I've always had a haunch that you did…"

The grip upon Four Arms' throat tightened a bit and DCELR8 said, "Well I alwaysss did. And thanksss to this trial, I'll finally have a chance in killing you…and fulfill my father'sss dream…"

Four Arms eyes widened, what in god's name was DCELR8 talking about? Father's dream?

"But before I do the finishing move upon you, I want to sssay sssomething that you might find interesting. And I want to sssee the look upon your face when I tell it to you…"

One of Four Arms' hands unconsciously reached into one of his pockets. His hand found something there and gripped it as tightly as DCELR8's hand was gripping Four Arms' throat. Four Arms' battered mind relaxed inside. He knew that if he were to die, that it will be him who will have the last laugh and not DCELR8's.

DCELR8 didn't see that his hand was in his pocket though. He was too busy concentrating at Four Arms' face. His face grew manic as he then said,

"I killed XLR8'sss father."


	62. The Metal Trial: The Zen of Prediction

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Finals are coming up…ugh….

--

Four Arms' eyes snapped into focus again as he heard DCELR8 say the startling words.

"You?" he coughed, "No…that can't be…I saw XLR8's father die right before my eyes!"

"And yet I killed him…"

Four Arms shook his head rigorously and said, "No…you didn't kill him, a sea monster did. I saw the large tentacle pull him under water."

DCELR8 snickered and said, "My father and I actually caught that sea monster. We wanted to put the creature to good use…so we decided we would kill XLR8's father with it. My father knew that his stupid brother would save you…the prince…and his darling XLR8 from the creature. It was a simple plan that went exceedingly well. XLR8's father, DSEL, died and no one ever thought of the possibility of murder. Shortly before DSEL died, my father gave me the honor of releasing the cage that kept the monster in. I'll never forget the exuberant moment when I opened the iron doors and let the hungry creature set out for its intended prey. It is murder most sweet…"

Four Arms slowly closed his eyes. Without opening them, he slowly said, "…Why…?"

DCELR8's grip upon Four Arms' shoulder tightened and Four Arms begin to have trouble breathing. The blue lizard then said, "For my people. You four armed freaks always had complete control over the government with your tyrannical monarchy. My people never had any say in the government and were for many centuries treated unfairly and unequally. The highest rank my people could ever achieve was Head Royal Guardsman. And back then, the person who had that position was XLR8's father, DSEL. My father thought that his lowly brother was a traitor to his people and so…we killed him. With DSEL dead, my father took his place as Head Royal Guardsman. With my father at such a high position, we have since been planning to overthrow the Four Arms Monarchy. Slowly, we gathered support from my people, and we have grown in strength. The Grand Revolution is about to start…now all we need…is the catalyst…"

Four Arms was by now only half-heartily paying attention to what DCELR8 was saying. His mind was somewhere else, somewhere in the past…

It was because of DCELR8 that XLR8 is who she is right now. Before her father's death, XLR8 was a carefree child that had not one evil bone in her body. However, after her father's death she was kicked out of the royal palace. She was left out in the harsh wilderness.

She had to defend herself.

To grow strong.

To be mentally stable.

To be emotionless.

She had to fight to survive and she came out on top.

And with all this, she completely changed.

Rage filled Four Arms' heart. DCELR8 killed XLR8's father but he didn't care. All he wanted was to be glorified and to have an easy life. It was his choice that made XLR8's life a living hell. Adrenaline began to fill Four Arms' body as the rage grew stronger. He gritted his teeth and his eyes became mere slits. His hands gripped tightly and his breathing quickened.

"…and now…" finished DCELR8, "I'm going to kill you. And there'sss nothing you can do about it. My sssecret shall ssstill be sssafe once I finish you off."

DCELR8 snickered. Four Arms looked at him evilly. Then, using all his power to keep his voice calm, he said, "you're wrong…"

DCELR8 looked at him annoyingly and said, "what did you sssay?"

"I said…you're wrong. Even if you do kill me, everyone will soon learn about your evil deed. Because…"

At this point, Four Arms took one of his hands out of his pocket. He then opened his palm and revealed a cell phone on it. The cell phone was turned on and it was flashing "speakerphone."

"I had a hunch…" continued Four Arms who had a triumphant grin upon his face, "that you would say something worthwhile before you killed me. If I was to go, everyone would see what kind of person you are. However, never did I expect for you to say something so…juicy…"

DCELR8's mouth was hanging open, he was too shocked by what had just happened. He had been outgunned by Four Arms.

Four Arms pulled in his cell phone and said, "You got that Stinkfly?"

There was a garbled hiss before a voice replied, "Yeah…we got that…everyone here heard DCELR8's little story."

Four Arms dropped the phone to the ground and said, "It's over DCELR8. You lose."

Four Arms pulled back one of his arms and using all of his rage within him, he delivered a powerful blow to DCELR8's still shocked face. DCELR8 went flying through the cold, cold air. He slammed into a nearby boulder and cried out in pain.

Four Arms knew that this was not enough to finish DCELR8, he had to keep fighting him. Four Arms then got up from the ground but he cried out in pain and he quickly fell back down. He then remembered that DCELR8 slashed at his calf muscle and it was still bleeding profusely. He then knew that he had to get his first aid kit as soon as possible to deliver himself an injection. He looked around and he saw the kit lying on the ground nearby. He crawled to the kit and grabbed it with his big hands. Unclasping the hooks, he felt around the bag until he found a syringe and a small bottle that was for pain relieving. Knowing that he didn't have much time he unscrewed the lid and stuck the syringe in the bottle. Sucking up the life saving liquid, he took the syringe and stuck the needle right below his knee. He took the needle out and he put the lid back upon the needle. Almost instantly, the pain went away and he was able to stand upon his feet again.

But Four Arms knew instinctually that the liquid only stopped the pain. It did not stop the blood that was still coming out of his wound. He must end this fight now before something bad happens.

DCELR8 got back up and spat a tooth onto the ground, he then yelled out in a ferocious voice, "DAMN YOU TO THE NULL VOID!"

In a flash he zoomed towards Four Arms, Four Arms hunkered down and tried to lessen the blow but it was of no use. When DCELR8 kicked him, he still cried out in pain and he fell to the floor again. The pain in the stomach was so great that he laid there, quivering.

Up ahead, the stadium's announcer began to cry out the countdown, "1…2…3…"

While he was laying there, Four Arms suddenly remembered his training with Sensei Wildvine. Of course! He didn't go through all that hard training for nothing! Now was the time to put that training into good use.

Closing his eyes and clenching his teeth, Four Arms got back up. The countdown stopped and everyone in the stadium cheered wildly. As he stood there he began to take deep breaths. In order to win, he must clear his mind of all emotion. He must clear his mind of all love, hate and sorrow that had reside there.

--

_Wildvine sat crosslegged with Four Arms and said to him, "Life…is a funny thing Four Arms. You must first realize this before you are ready for the true Zen of Prediction."  
"The Zen of Prediction, Sensei?"_

"_It is the art of predicting life's turbulent energy. It is where one could sense the future movements of a particular organism. If one truly cleared their mind, they could sense and thus 'see' an organism's aura. This aura is different for every organism, it is sort of like a fingerprint. Do you see?"_

"_Yes, Sensei."_

"_Good. Now, in order to predict the future movements of an organism, one must sense the slight change in the organism's aura. It is this aura that you should be watching for. Now, explaining this is sort of difficult so I will do my best. Imagine you are standing next to a pond. You pick up a rock and you throw it in the pond. What happens?"_

"_The rock makes a splash?"_

"_And then…?"_

_Four Arms thought for a moment before saying, "It then makes ripples in the water."_

"_Good, now, taking this analogy, imagine that an organism is the rock and the ripples are its aura. If you stand quite near to the 'rock' you'll feel bigger 'ripples' than if you stood further away. The same goes for an organism, the closer the organism, the stronger the waves. Do you understand?"_

"_Not really Sensei…"_

_Wildvine smiled and said, "well, I never was a good teacher in the first place."_

_--_

Four Arms took one last deep breath and swept away the remaining emotions. He never had successfully captured the Zen of Prediction. But now is the time that he must succeed. With his eyes closed, he soon felt something inside his chest. At first it was weak, but it grew stronger. The feeling felt like there was several sound waves going through him at once. Soon, he was able to 'see' a blurry image of the world…and then…

Instinctually, he quickly reached out with his lower left arm and grabbed DCELR8 who was about to deliver another powerful blow.

"WHAT THE?" cried DCELR8, "HOW THE HECK DID YOU CATCH ME?"

Four Arms opened his eyes and smiled, he then lifted DCELR8 by the chest and grabbed his metal leg. All the while, DCELR8 was squirming around and tried to break away from his powerful grip. Four Arms took DCELR8's metal leg and he crushed it with his bare hands.

He dropped DCELR8 onto the floor and began to walk away from him. DCELR8 tried to get back up, but with his leg gone, he couldn't. After a pitiful struggle, he fell back down. This fight was done.

Overhead, the announcer began to chant out the countdown, "1…2…3…4…5…6…"

"THISS FIGHT ISSS NOT OVER YET FOUR ARMSSS!"

XLR8 took out a dagger and threw it at Four Arms while his back was still turned towards him. However, Four Arms sensed this and he quickly turned around and he stopped the dagger with his bare hand. Throwing the dagger to the ground he said, "I see that you are not willing to quit so easily. I'm going to end this now."

He walked up to the quivering lizard and he grabbed his stripped tail.

"What…what are you doing?" stuttered DCELR8.

Four Arms smiled, "I always wanted to do this," he said.

He then lifted DCELR8 up in the air by the tail and he began to spin him around and around. Faster and faster he spun, all the while DCELR8 was screaming and screaming for him to stop but Four Arms kept going. Faster and faster he went until he yelled, "ON THE COUNT OF THREE! ONE….TWO…THREEEEE!"

He let go of DCELR8 and he zoomed through the air. He screamed a horrific scream and he rocketed across the entire arena. He zoomed over the arena boundaries and he slammed into the stadium wall. He groaned and he fell to the floor.

The audience cheered a humongous cheer and the announcer yelled over their voices, "DCELR8 HAS BEEN THROWN OUT OF THE ARENA! FOUR ARMS IS THE WINNER!"

The stadium's bell rang twice and Round Two was over.


	63. The Metal Trial: The Second Intermission

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** woohoo! More than a hundred thousand words!

--

Four Arms collapsed to the ground and breathed a sigh of relief. At last, the fight was over.

He laid there in blissfulness as he felt the cool wind blow around him. So tired and exhausted that he was, he barely heard the crowd chant his name several times in loud unison. After what seemed like several hours (which was actually less than two minutes) he felt himself being lifted up in the air and placed upon a stretcher. The stretcher felt nice and soft against him and he was on the verge of falling asleep. He fought that feeling though and he tugged at the sleeve on one of the medics that was rolling him out.

"Bring me…" he stuttered, "to DCELR8…"

"Four Arms…" replied the medic uneasily, "we got to get you to the clinic as soon as possible."

Four Arms tugged harder on the sleeve and said, "No…I want to see him now…"

The medics hesitated but gave in to his plea. As quickly as they could, they rolled him over to DCELR8 who was also in the process of being put on the stretcher. DCELR8 was a mess. Not only was his mechanical leg gone, but his left mechanical arm was hanging loosely by a few threads of wire and gears. His mechanical helmet was crushed and parts of it were slowly falling off of it.

When the two fighter's eyes met DCELR8 winced and said, "You…should have…killed me…"

Four Arms shook his head from side to side and said, "No…I don't believe in killing my opponents…I just can't summon the will power to do so…no matter how evil or despicable they may be…"

DCELR8 coughed and said, "You truly have a heart of gold…Four Armsss…"

Four Arms then smiled and said, "Besides…I'm not the one whose going to kill you…XLR8 is…"

DCELR8 smiled and cussed like a angry sailor, he then said, "Hell hath no fury like a woman'sss ssscorn…"

Four Arms frowned and said, "don't you forget…you were the one to bring her like she is now…"

DCLER8 shrugged and said, "I wasss doing what wasss best for my people…"

Four Arms again shook his head from side to side, "No…you were only doing what was best for yourself…"

Four Arms then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Back on the balcony, Four Arms' team stood there in a piercing silence. Grey Matter spat onto the metal floor and said, "Justice is served."

Diamondhead thought that Grey Matter's comment was uncalled for due to the prescence of XLR8 but he said nothing. With a quick glance from his steel colored eyes, he saw XLR8's face. It was still the same stony expression that she always wore wherever she went. It even looked like she didn't hear DCELR8's story at all in the first place. But Diamondhead knew she did.

For he saw one single tear glisteningly roll down her dark blue face.

It was at this time when Upgrade had returned from his visit with Blizzard. A determined expression was carefully concealed upon his expressionless face. He nodded to everyone and quickly walked up to the small group. He then rubbed his hands together and said, "Right! So who won?"

"It wasss Four Armsss," said XLR8.

Upgrade nodded his head and said, "Good. Now the score is even. We need to win two more games and the Trial is ours."

Once Four Arms and DCELR8 were wheeled off, the audience grew very quiet as the announcer's voice came on again. The remanding fighters grew tense, who will be called next?

"Attention Ladies and Gentlemen…it's time….for ROUND THREE!"

The audience screamed loudly and frighteningly, they were excited and wanted to see more action! The feeling was so intense that one could feel so ecstatic emotions hovering through the air.

"First off…for Team A…it's RIPJAWS!"

Ripjaws gasped like a fish that was out of water. Her eyes grew wide and her heart began to race. The color drained from her face and she began to shiver with nervousness.

Grey Matter yelled a woop of support and Upgrade gave her the thumbs up. Stinkfly walked up to her and said, "Give them hell Rip!"

Ripjaws nodded but she was still as pale as white. She then felt a large hand rest gently upon her shoulder, she looked up to see Diamondhead smiling at her and said, "you'll do fine Ripjaws."

This statement from Diamondhead suddenly made Ripjaws feel better. She sheepishly smiled and said, "thank you everyone…"

Ripjaws eyes then focused upon the elevator. She took a deep breath and walked up to it. She pressed the down button and the doors smoothly opened. She walked into them and she waved her teammates a goodbye as if she was saying she would never see them again.

The doors closed and she was alone in the cramped compartment.

She was as nervous and as scared as a little kid going to the doctor's to get his shot. Ripjaws gulped and began to take deep breaths to calm herself. But it was of no use. Her heart still beat wildly.

Once the doors opened she was blinded by a brilliance of light. After blinking several times, she stepped out of the elevator and began to walk to the arena. She became so absorbed at her nervousness that she didn't even hear her name being called out by many members of the audience.

Once she came upon the end of the arena she quickly turned and faced her opponent. There, on the other side of the arena, was a bird-like girl who had large wings and a very protrusive beak. Ripjaws gulped and optimistically thought, at least it wasn't Cuttooth.

Then, the announcer's voice came on, "READY….BEGIN!"

The stadium's bell rang twice. Round three has begun.


	64. The Metal Trial: Do You Feel Anger?

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** someone should do like an Alien vs. Ben vs. Predator story. I think that will be cool.

--

Eaglet leaned forward and spread out her golden wings. With a burst of energy she took off running at sprinter's pace towards Ripjaws. Ripjaws first impulse was to run but she firmly stood her ground. Once Eaglet reached Ripjaws she swung her large, clawed wings at her. Ripjaws ducked the attack and the wing flew over her head. Eaglet swung again and Ripjaws jumped back several paces and dodged the attack again. Eaglet then swung her foot at Ripjaws but Ripjaws caught the foot and redirected it away.

Eaglet recovered from this and said in an annoyed tone, "Is that all you're going to do? Just dodge and block my attacks?"

Ripjaws looked embarrassed and she looked at the ground. She then said quietly, "I don't want to hurt anybody…"

Eaglet made a clucking sound and said, "You're never going to win that way."

Eaglet then swung her right wing at Ripjaws which she blocked. However, using her left wing, Eaglet quickly grabbed Ripjaws and threw her over her shoulder. Ripjaws slammed onto the ground and softly cried out in pain. However, Ripjaws shook it off and she got back up looking meek as usual.

Eaglet shook her head and she let out a barrage of swift attacks with her clawed hands. Ripjaws, with hands quicker than the eye can see, blocked each of the quick attacks. However, Eaglet then did a low kick and that threw off Ripjaws' balance. While Ripjaws was stumbling forward, Eaglet raised her other foot and she squarely side-kicked Ripjaws in the mouth. Ripjaws head was quickly thrown to the side and she fell to the ground again in agony.

Ripjaws shook her head and she again got back up though this time it was much slower. Blood trickled out of her mouth as she tried to look her opponent squarely in the eye.

Eaglet clucked again and said, "Why do you keep getting back up if you don't even bother to throw a punch at me?"

Ripjaws tried to make herself stand taller but failed somewhat. However, with firm determination in her voice she said, "I do not want to let me team down…I must win this match…"

"THEN FIGHT ME DAMNET!"

With speed so quick, Eaglet pressed her hands firmly together and she rocketed a punch at Ripjaws' stomach. Ripjaws got the full front of it and she let out a shrill of pain as she felt the blow. Ripjaws stumbled backwards but she did not fall. However, she was bent over while simultaneously clutching her stomach. She let out slow, gasps of pain as she was hunched over. Slowly, Ripjaws straightened back up and looked at her opponent in the eye again.

Eaglet shook her head and she slowly walked forward to Ripjaws.

"I see now that no matter how many times I knock you down, you'll keep getting back up. No matter, there are other ways in winning this round."

Eaglet spread out her majestic wings and she took off into the sky. With incredible agility, she began to circle Ripjaws from above. Ripjaws stood her ground but at the same time looked very sick.

Circling her like a vulture, Eaglet began to wheel in towards her helpless prey. And then, without warning, she dove upon her. Ripjaws didn't even have time to react before she felt Eaglet's strong claws grip around her shoulders. She then felt the sensation of being lifted up into the air at an astounding speed. Ripjaws gasped as she was carried higher and higher. The ground below her dwindled and the arena began to look smaller and smaller. All the while Eaglet calmly said, "If I can't knock you out….I'll throw you out of the ring!"

Ripjaws' eyes grew wide as she realized that her opponent was flying her to the edge of the wing. Ripjaws then grabbed her opponent's legs and while screaming, "NO! I WON'T…LOSE!"

Ripjaws turned her head to the side and opened her wide, toothy mouth. She then bit down hard upon Eaglet's leg. Ripjaws felt Eaglet's skin tore and felt her warm blood pour out of her newly opened wounds. Eaglet shrilled a high pitch note and she threw off Ripjaws. Ripjaws fell from the sky while squirming with twisted agony and fear. She slammed into the ground and rolled to a stop.

Eaglet landed awkwardly upon the ground and stood upon her uninjured leg. She looked at her wounded leg with her yellow eyes and she let out a stream of curses.

Ripjaws, who was on fell face forward, slowly rolled herself onto her back. Her beady eye focused upon Eaglet who was storming up a sea of anger. Ripjaws closed her eyes and knew what she must do in order to win this match.

She shook off her pain again and she got back up quickly. Ripjaws then spat out a tooth that must have dislodged itself when she fell from the sky. Nodding to herself, Ripjaws ran forward and hunkered down, preparing herself for her attack. Eaglet clucked again and she took off into the sky once again. Ripjaws stopped and she carefully followed her opponent's path in the sky. Eaglet flew in the air as fast as an Earthian Hummingbird. With no hesitation, Eaglet dove from the air once again like a hungry hawk.

Ripjaws raised her hands and with quick like dexterity, she dodged the attack and grabbed Eaglet's legs.

"WHAT THE?" screamed Eaglet.

Ripjaws then sprinted forward towards the edge of the ring. She knew that in order to settle this peacefully, she must force Eaglet to touch the ground that resides outside of the ring. All the while though, Eaglet fought tremendously.

Just when the two were at the edge, Eaglet leaned forward and punched Ripjaws in the stomach again. Ripjaws grunted in pain and let go of Eaglet. Eaglet fell to the ground but then she quickly did a low kick at Ripjaws. Ripjaws tumbled towards Eaglet in response to this blow. While she did that, Eaglet raised her powerful, Herculean wings and she slammed them into Ripjaws.

Ripjaws was catapulted into the air and she came back down hard.

Eaglet spread hobbled back up and spread out her wings again. She flapped them so fast that she zoomed towards Ripjaws at an incredible speed. Ripjaws, who was back upon her feet, braced for her attack but it was too much. Eaglet let out a devastating one hundred kilometer per hour kick into Ripjaws' face.

Ripjaws tumbled back again and she fell down hard upon the ground.

He eyes grew milky white.

Her mouth oozed blood.

Her limbs remain still.

Her water orb shined dully upon the cloudy sky.

The countdown began

"1…2…"

Eaglet clucked her mouth and she slowly hobbled towards Ripjaws while saying out loud, "You see Ripjaws…the reason why I win this match is that I have utilized my anger to win this match. Anger gives me strength and helps me fight longer, tougher battles. You on the other hand do not use your anger. All this time…you wanted to win for your team…and not for yourself…"

"3….4…5…"

Ripjaws slowly rotated her head and dimly looked at Eaglet.

"In this world…one must stand up for oneself…one does not have friends to support him…lovers to soothe him…supporters to cheer them on…one has only oneself…and you…Ripjaws…rely too much on others and too little upon yourself…in short…you have no self confidence…"

"6…7…"

Ripjaws slowly blinked, she felt herself going numb. She felt weak both mentally and physically…

"I can tell…throughout your life…you have been pushed by others and always did as they said. Never questioning…never talking back…you are as helpless as a lamb…"

"8…"

"So the real question is…Do You Feel Anger?"

Ripjaws closed her eyes, she knew what as coming…yet she could not stop the force…all the years of anger that has built up inside of her…will finally be free…once again…

Come forth anger…

Come forth rage…

Come forth…Croc Killer.

"9…"

--

Ghostfreak gasped. Everyone turned their heads towards her. Grey Matter looked concerned and said, "Penelope…what's wrong?"

Ghostfreak's hands quivered for a second before she said, _"Ripjaws' aura…it has grown faint."_

Stinkfly eyestalks grew wide and she said, "She's not dead or anything….is she?"

Ghostfreak shook her head. She then replied, _"No…it as merely gone faint. She is simply unconscious. However, I feel the presence of a new aura. One that is sporadic and intense. One that is filled with negative emotions…it has completely engulfed Ripjaws' aura."_

"What do you mean Ghostfreak?" shouted Stinkfly.

Ghostfreak's eye widened and her pupil dilated, she then said, "_The Ripjaws that is standing in the arena…is not the Ripjaws that we know…it is someone else…"_

--

Croc Killer was standing upon her two feet and was maliciously looking at Eaglet. Eaglet looked annoyed again and said, "Ugh…will you please just stay down? I'm getting bored of this match."

Croc Killer laughed and said, "Don't worry…it's just about to get interesting…"


	65. The Metal Trial: Croc Killer

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Ugh…sorry about the delay…I was busy as HECK! A response to Dragonmaster's comment: I originally kept the names because then people don't have to remember who is who. Thus they can instantly know who the character is without having to think about it. Plus I'm just bad at naming things.

--

Without hesitating, Croc Killer zoomed off towards Eaglet. She was running at an incredible pace and showed no sign of slowing down. In response to this, Eaglet raised her majestic wings and she took off into the sky. Croc Killer saw this and she jumped towards her with her carnivorous mouth wide open.

Instead of flying away from this attack, Eaglet stood (or rather flew) her ground and she pulled back her leg to kick Croc Killer. Croc Killer saw this and tried to stop herself in midair but it was of no use. Eaglet launched her foot and landed it directly into Croc Killer's face. Croc Killer screamed in agony as the bird's claws dug into her face. With blood just freshly pooling out of her face, Croc Killer grabbed Eaglet's foot with her claws and held on tight.

"Ugh! Not this again!" shrilled Eaglet who was now trying to get Croc Killer off of her.

Croc Killer smiled and she began to climb herself up. Slowly, she began to grab onto parts of Eaglet's body. Eaglet meanwhile did all she could to get rid of her. She flew quickly in the air, she beat her rapidly with her fists and she pecked at her with her beak, but Croc Killer kept on climbing.

With swift like motions, Croc Killer opened her large mouth and she bit into Eaglet's left wing. Eaglet screamed in pain as she felt the teeth dig into her soft, downy covered skin. Her grand winds stopped flapping and the two fighters started to fall to the hard ground. Before Croc Killer could do any more damage, Eaglet opened her great beak of a mouth and let out piercing shrill that everyone could hear for miles. Croc Killer got the full blast of the sound attack and she immediately let go of Eaglet to cover her own ears. With Croc Killer's grip upon her wing gone, Eaglet spread her wings again and she took off into the sky. Croc Killer meanwhile fell to the ground while still covering her ears. A cloud of dust erupted as she slammed into it. Eaglet then landed herself to the ground as gracefully as she could. She looked at her injured wing as she irritably clucked at it. She then said, "No one has ever injured me this badly in a battle before…it's time I-"

She stopped. She looked around. She didn't see Croc Killer anywhere. Eaglet's eyes grew wide and she said, "What the? Where did-"

Before she could finish her statement she felt her wounded arm being forcefully twisted. She gasped as she then felt a strong arm wrapped around her. Croc Killer's head then came into her side view. She could barely see her as she whispered into her ear.

"Never underestimate the stealthy power of a hungry predator."

Eaglet saw several of her own feathers drop lazily from Croc Killer's mouth.

Then, Croc Killer, while still holding onto Eaglet's arm, spun Eaglet around and she grabbed her other arm. She then raised her foot in the air and kicked Eaglet right into her stomach. The force was so powerful that Eaglet felt her wings dislocate from her shoulder. Croc Killer let go of her and Eaglet staggered back. She wavered for a moment and she fell to the ground.

"1…2…3…"

But Eaglet wouldn't go that easy. She raised her head and let out another screech attack at Croc Killer. Croc Killer staggered back and covered her ears again in agony. Eaglet tried to get up but she it rather difficult now that her wings have been dislocated. Once she finally staggered back up, she took off running. If she was to win this match, she must get her wings back into order again.

She didn't know how but she must win.

She ran to the edge of the arena but she still hadn't fixed her wings yet. She turned around and saw Croc Killer running at her, the look of rage and hate was plastered upon her blood covered face. Eaglet began to move again but she tripped upon a stray rock. She fell over and she hit the ground hard.

She flipped herself over and was now on her back. She saw Croc Killer still running at her at an incredible pace. Then Eaglet got an idea.

Eaglet clamped her beak hard and began to prepare herself. When Croc Killer was just about to reach her, she quickly raised her feet and Croc Killer went right into them. She let out a large grunt of pain as her whole body propelled herself onto them. Then, using all her strength, Eaglet lifted Croc Killer into the air and flung her over the arena and into the stadium's floor. Croc Killer hit the ground hard and she slid to a stop.

The stadium's bell rang twice and Round Three was over.


	66. The Metal Trial: The Third Intermission

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I uploaded these last two chapters kind of quickly so you might have missed the last chapter.

--

Diamondhead looked out at the arena and mentally sighed to himself. He thought that Ripjaws had a chance in winning the match but he was wrong. The score was now two to one. If the enemy team won one more round, then this match will be over. XLR8 shifted uncomfortably upon her feet. She too knew that they needed to win two more rounds in order to conquer the match.

Stinkfly turned to Ghostfreak and uneasily said, "Ghostfreak…is Ripjaws back to her old self?"

Ghostfreak for a moment did not say anything, she then said, _"yes…the intense aura that I felt awhile ago is gone…Ripjaws is amongst us once more…"_

Stinkfly nodded and looked back at the arena. She then saw something from the corner of one of her eyestalks. She blinked and she looked at what she saw again. It couldn't be…could it? The person looks so different from him and yet…

Stinkfly grabbed Upgrade's arm and pointed to the outskirts of the arena.

"Look!" she cried.

Her teammates followed her finger and when they saw what they she was looking at they too didn't believe what they saw.

Diamondhead smirked and said, "So he's finally here."

--

Ripjaws opened her eyes slowly. It took awhile to adjust them but once she did she saw that she was upon the ground. She tried to move but she found that she couldn't get up. Not because she was hurt but because she felt as if all of her energy had been sucked out of her. She then felt herself being lifted up in the air and set down upon the stretcher by the medics that had rushed to her side. The stretcher felt nice and cool against her hot and dried skin.

She looked over to the arena and saw Eaglet also being placed upon a stretcher. When she saw this Ripjaws realized that she had lost. Even the power of her inner demon did not beat the hawk-like fighter. Tears rolled into her eyes as she thought more and more about it. She had failed, she did her best and she still failed. She was useless.

As she was thinking this through she felt the presence of another person nearby. She bent her head and looked to see who was standing there.

It was Heatblast. But not the Heatblast that she remembered. Instead of being somewhat scrawny and lanky like the last time she saw him, Heatblast looked more muscular and fit. Small flames were rising from his shoulders and the color of his whole body seemed to be darker than she remembered. A look of both determination and love was upon his face as he saw her. He was also carrying what appeared to be a small knapsack.

When she saw him, her eyes grew wide and she said faintly his name.

Heatblast smiled and gave her the thumbs up. "You did great babe," he said.

Once again Ripjaws felt ashamed of herself and she said, "But I have failed…"

Heatblast placed a cool hand upon her shoulder and said, "But you tried and that's what count. One who tries again and again and fails is not a failure. One who tries once and fails and gives up is a true failure. You, Ripjaws, are no failure."

Ripjaws closed her eyes once more and said, "Thank you…Heatblast…"

She then calmly fell asleep.

Heatblast released his hand from her shoulder and let the medics take her away. He looked up the arena and nodded to himself. It was time for him to battle.

Taking long strides, he soon reached the icy covered rock stage. He took off his knapsack and set it down the ground carefully. This was it, time to see if all his training with Cannonbolt would help him win this match.

He looked over to the other side of the arena and saw Cuttooth standing there. He grinned a ferocious grin and said, "You have no idea how long I have been waiting to do this…"

Heatblast smiled and popped his knuckles and replied, "Ditto."

The stadium's bell rang twice. Round four has began.


	67. The Metal Trial: A Small Warm Up

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I'm going to camp next week so I don't know if I'll be able to squeeze in another chapter…but I'll try!

--

Dropping his knapsack to the ground, Heatblast outstretched the palms of his hands and quickly powered up two fireballs. Then, like a pitcher throwing a fast ball to home, he let loose the balls of fire at Cuttooth with astonishing speed. Cuttooth spat to the ground and he nimbly dodged the two fireballs. He then ran forward towards Heatblast with his claws wide open, his clawed feet dug hard into the ground as he sprinted. Heatblast let out another torrent of fireballs but Cuttooth dodged them like a skilled acrobat. Then, sooner than one might expect, Cuttooth was right in front of Heatblast.

The two warriors shot out a barrage of fists as they went head to head. Each time one fist would get near the opponent's face; another fist would come by and block it. This quick punching game lasted a full minute before the two fighters broke off the stalemate and backed off.

Then, Cuttooth swung his foot towards Heatblast at speeds that would make Jet Lee proud. Heatblast jumped sideways away from the attack and began to twist in the air like an Olympic acrobat. With grace that can only be matched by a flying swan, he landed upon his hands and stood upon them. Then, in a surprising move, his feet shot out a fiery attack. The attack caught Cuttooth off guard and he cried in dismay as the attack landed upon him.

He snarled at the upside-down Heatblast and he spat onto the ground again. He then raised his fists up in the air and quickly slammed them into the ground. The arena shook violently as the fists bore into the ground. Heatblasts couldn't keep his balance so he fell to the floor. Before he could get back up, Cuttooth jumped in the air and tried to land upon him. Heatblast rolled out of the way of the attack. He then raised his hand and shot another fireball at Cuttooth. Cuttooth jumped to the side and the fireball passed dizzyingly by. Cuttooth lunged at the fallen Pyronite and he grabbed his fiery foot. Lifting him up in the air, he threw him to a nearby boulder.

Heatblast flew through the air and he landed upon the boulder. The boulder cracked and fell to pieces due to the extreme energy that Heatblast retained. The pieces of rock fell on top of Heatblast who was still recovering from Cuttooth's mighty throw.

Heatblast then, slowly, got back up. After dusting off some soot and dirt that was on him, he faced Cuttooth and looked him straight in the eye. Cocking his head to the side and smiling like a deranged hunter he said, "Alright Cuttooth…enough with these warm up exercises. Let's start fighting for real now."

Cuttooth returned the queer smile and said, "fine with me. But before we begin…may I say something?"

Heatblast raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Cuttooth nodded to him and continued on, "You of course remember the Water Orb that Ripjaws carries? It gives her the power to walk on land without drying out. Well…I too have a Water Orb…but unlike Ripjaws…I utilize its power to its fullest extent."

Before Heatblast could say anything in response to this, Cuttooth raised his outstretched hands and closed his eyes. Then, with no apparent reason why, the snow and ice that was from Blizzard's match began to melt. The water that came from the snow then moved like a small flood towards Cuttooth. It crept along the dry ground, hugging it like a large snake until finally it reached its master. It then slithered up the crocodilian fighter and surrounded him like a chain of armor. Cuttooth's arms seemed to grow as the water surrounded them. Soon, he, and particularly his arms, was shielded with water.

Cuttooth smiled again and said, "The Water Orb gives its user the power to control nearby water sources. The only catch is that the user must have a large amount of anger and hate to do so…"

Heatblast, who was surprised by the whole spectacle, showed a look of calm on his face when he replied, "Why is that?"

Cuttooth shrugged making small ripples in his watery suit. He then said, "I don't really know much of the magic behind it but I know this. Our celebrated god, the Sea Creator, is the god of the sea, war and some quite terrible emotions. The Water Orb, which is supposed to be a gift from the Sea Creator, gets its delicious power from the use of these said emotions. The user acquires extra speed, strength and power over water. And now…"

Cuttooth raised one of his powerful arms and shot from it a stream of water bullets with blinding speeds. In response to this, Heatblast raised his arms and protected his face from the water bullets. The bullets whizzed to and fro and struck his fiery skin. He groaned in annoyance as small sprouts of steam erupted from his body. When the bullets stopped firing Heatblast lowered his arms and laughed at Cuttooth.

"Don't think that I am weak like a small flame to water Cuttooth! Cannonbolt trained me to make sure that I wouldn't be put down _that_ easily!"

Heatblast quickly raised his hands and shot out two fireballs. The fireballs squealed through the air and headed right to Cuttooth. Cuttooth merely chuckled. When one of the fireballs got near him he simply batted it aside with one of his watery arms. The fireball when tumbling through the air and exploded on a nearby boulder. Cuttooth didn't even do anything for the second fireball. The fireball landed squarely onto his chest but it fizzled and went out like a light bulb.

Cuttooth smiled again and he shot out a stream of water bullets. Realizing that he had to do something different, Heatblast dodged the bullets and ran for cover. Cuttooth laughed as Heatblast jumped behind a nearby boulder.

"What's the matter Heatblast? I thought that Mr. Fatso made you less afraid of water! You can't win!"

Another fireball came right at Cuttooth and he shook his head impatiently. When will Heatblast learn that his puny fireballs will have no effect upon his water coated body?

But, oh how wrong Cuttooth was, for once the fireball landed on his chest, it exploded with a terribly strong force. Cuttooth was lifted up from his heals and was sent flying through the air. So stunned was he by the attack that it took him a moment to realize that he was on the ground. Gritting his teeth and filling up with rage he stood back up. His water shield is strong! How did it get penetrated so easily and quickly by a mere flame?

He was about to attack Heatblast when he stopped. He looked at Heatblast and his huge jaw dropped.

Heatblast was no longer burning the orange flames like he normally did…he was burning green. Heatblast's entire body was green. His flames seemed to be stronger, his body seemed fit. The difference was so startling that Cuttooth was left speechless.

Heatblast smiled and said, "Alright…lets fight."


	68. The Metal Trial: Water vs Fire

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** After the Metal Trial is done there will be a collection of mini stories again. Sort of like what happened after the Water Trial. Well, I'm sort of low on ideas so if anyone can get me some new ones…that will be great!

--

Heatblast smiled at the befuddled expression of Cuttooth's face.

"Surprised?" he said while chuckling, "This is a new feature of mine, I kind of like it, what do you think?"

Cuttooth closed his jaw and stammered, "How?"

"Barium chloride," replied Heatblast.

"And that means anything to me…how?"

"Well Cuttooth, if you had anything that we like to call a brain, you would know what barium chloride is used for."

Cuttooth snarled and said, "Fine, _enlighten_ me, _professor_."

"Well, if you have ever been to a celebration with fireworks then you know what I'm talking about. Barium chloride is a chemical used in fireworks. When burned, it emits a greenish color. Its explosive properties combined with its orgasmic greenish color make barium chloride a great choice for pyrotechnics. Now, while some species can't handle this power…mine can. We can utilize its potential by engulfing it and burning it from within. As we burn the chemical, are bodies turn green and we become more powerful. Plus, we have the power to control the chemical, so it just doesn't explode like it would normally in a firecracker."

"Very interesting…" said Cuttooth who was impressed, "but where did you get this chemical? I didn't see you bring it up with you before we battled."

Heatblast pointed a green finger to a knapsack at the ground.

"Ah," Cuttooth simply said.

"Now…" said Heatblast cracking his knuckles, "The barium chloride will not last long…maybe three minutes at max…but that's all I need to take care of you."

Heatblast shot an intense fireball at Cuttooth. Cuttooth snarled and sent a stream of water at the fireball. The stream collided into the fireball and steam erupted from the fusion of the yin/yang elements. Heatblast leaned forward and shot forth like a rocket while Cuttooth did the same thing and took off like a charging waterfall.

With fists raised high in the air, the fighters bulleted their ways forward. Once they were a mere meter apart, the two launched a fist attack at one another. The two fists collided and an explosion of steam burst forth from the impact. With fists still in contact, Cuttooth smiled and said, "It's the fabled battle isn't it Heatblast? Water vs. Fire."

Heatblast returned the smile and opened his free fist. Jumping away from Cuttooth, he launched a torrent of green fireballs at Cuttooth. Cuttooth danced nimbly away from them like a gymnast. The fireballs exploded fiercely upon impact of the ground. Heatblast then aimed his arms to the ground and fired them with a ferocious flame. The force of the fire accelerated his body up, up, up into the fabled and cloudy sky. In response to this outrageous move, Cuttooth stretched out his arms to its fullest extent. He began to breathe deeply and heavily, blue and red blood vessels pulsated from his arms as he concentrated strongly. The arena began to shake dangerously as he concentrated. The walls of the arena then burst open as water gushed out of newly opened pipes and fountains. The water twisted and turned in the air like an eel as it honed in to its master.

Once he was high in the air, Heatblast opened the palm of his hands and shot a green fire ball that pulsated like a star. The fire ball screamed through the air as if a soul was being tortured with the most ungodly methods ever. It hurled through the air to the Crocodillian, who was preparing to defend himself against this onslaught. The water from the pipes and fountains came just in the nick of time, for Cuttooth used it to just barely stop the fire bomb. Upon impact, the fire bomb exploded like a firecracker. Green flame shot this way and that making a beautiful spectacle. Cuttooth lowered his arms in exhaustion and the giant water shield fell to the ground in a great splash.

Heatblast was not done yet, for just as he was about to fall back down, he flipped himself in mid-air and pointed head first to the ground. His feet then shot forth a powerful flame and he zoomed back down to the earth or more specifically, towards Cuttooth. Cuttooth was too exhausted however to put his water shield back up. He was too exhausted to even move. Locking his huge jaws in place and raising his arms for protection, he waited for the attack. Heatblast zoomed through the air and slammed into him hard. With his rocket feet still going, Heatblast picked up Cuttooth and the two fighters zoomed right into a large boulder. The boulder exploded into pieces and fragments as the two fighters collided into it. When the pieces were done falling, the audience got a good look at the two fighters.

The two of them, who were utterly exhausted at this point, were lying there side by side. Heatblast opened his red eyes and realized that he was no longer green. Groaning, he pushed himself back up and said to himself, "Must've used it all up after that last attack…" Heatblast wobbled a bit and stumbled around before he was finally stable upon the ground. He heard a groan behind him and turned around to see Cuttooth also getting back up. This time, Heatblast groaned with agony instead of in pain.

"Damn…I thought I got you good with my final attack…"

Cuttooth said nothing, instead, with a flex of his hand the water from the arena began to move quickly. It slithered about upon the ground like a snake until it reached the knapsack that Heatblast brought onto the arena. When enough water was under the knapsack, Cuttooth twisted his hand again and the water shot up like a geyser, all the while bringing the knapsack with it. Then, Cuttooth gripped his hand tightly and the water pushed the knapsack to the side. The knapsack tumble through the air and landed outside of the arena. Something fell out of the knapsack but neither of the warriors saw that.

Cuttooth laughed and said, "Now that you no longer have your little power-ups. It's time I end this fight."

Heatblast had a look of anger and annoyance upon his face. With quick actions, he raised his hand and fired a fireball at Cuttooth. The fireball whizzed through the air and landed squarely onto Cuttooth's chest. However, since Cuttooth still had his body armor of water the fireball fizzed up. Cuttooth smiled and then moved his arms with fluidity. The water from the arena came to life once again and began to circle Heatblast from the air like sharks. They then zoomed in toward their fire foe. Heatblast, who was still tired from his earlier attack, exhaustedly dodge each of the water attacks. But upon hitting the floor the water would quickly get back up and hunt down Heatblast. It wasn't long before finally the water sharks hit Heatblast. They punched him hard in the gut and face and he cried out in agony as the water "burned" his skin. After a minute of this constant abuse, Heatblast fell to the ground. Cuttooth calmly walked up to the fallen hero and put his ugly foot upon his chest. Concentrating most of his water power into his left arm, Cuttooth raised his arm and fired a torrent of water right at Heatblast's right arm. Heatblast screamed in agony as the water thundered down upon his arm. His arm twisted and spazed in pain and torture as the water slowly ate away his flesh. Heatblast tried to get Cuttooth off of him but Cuttooth was too strong. Ever relentlessly, he went with the attack. Slowly, Heatblast could feel his arm fall to pieces. He felt his fingers go first…then his hand…then his lower arm and finally his upper arm. Once Heatblast's arm was gone, Cuttooth silenced the attack and got off of Heatblast. Heatblast moaned with pain as the countdown from the announcer began.

"1…2…3…"

Heatblast moaned and tried to get back up, but it was of no use. His whole body told him to stay down but he knew he couldn't. With tired eyes he happened to look to his side and saw something. Heatblast blinked and saw that it was one of the chemicals that he brought to the fight. The chemical was still in its solid form, wrapped around in a tight, clear plastic. Heatblast nodded to himself, if he could get to that chemical, he would be able to fight Cuttooth evenly again. Ignoring the pain in his body, Heatblast got back up and the announcer became silent with his countdown.

Without hesitating, Heatblast took off to the mineral. Cuttooth turned around just in time to see Heatblast and then to see the mineral. Cuttooth got wide eyed and quickly became angry at himself for being so blind. With twist of his wrist the water on the ground quickly slid over to the silver colored mineral. Heatblast saw this and ran faster than ever but he knew that he was too late. The water picked up the mineral and quickly brought it to Cuttooth. Heatblast stopped and cursed Cuttooth with foul words. Cuttooth smiled and bent over to pick up the mineral. He looked at it with curiosity and wonder as it dimly shined. With a quick glance at Heatblast he said, "You know…I think I'll keep this…as a trophy in remembering the day I defeated the great Heatblast."

"Over my dead body."

"That's the idea!"

Cuttooth raised his free hand and with quick, violent and conductor-like motions the water from the arena rose up from the dry ground. The water twisted and turned in midair until it became a funnel. Then, after formation, it thundered across the arena to Heatblast. Heatblast knew he couldn't stop the funnel so he tried to run away from it as fast as he cold. The funnel though was too fast for him. Like a giant shark going in for the kill, the funnel snagged Heatblast and began to throw him about. This way and that, Heatblast spun around limp like a rag doll. The water tore away his outer flames and began to go for the inner core of his body. Knowing that he didn't have much time to live, Heatblast took a deep breath and blasted himself out of the funnel. He fell through the cold air and landed hard upon the dense ground. Like a dead animal that was touched by the grim reaper, Heatblast did not stir from his resting place.

"1…2…3…"

Heatblast dimly heard the announcer's voice ringing across the stadium but he did not stir. Lying there peacefully, he wanted it so badly to end now.

But…

--

_Several months ago…_

_Ripjaws grabbed Heatblast's hand tightly and said, "Heatblast! Please don't go! Why can't you train here with Cannonbolt?"_

_Heatblast smiled at her and place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He then said, "Ripjaws…Cannonbolt said it was absolutely necessary to train on his home planet. He said that training there would be very beneficial for my fighting skills."_

"_But you don't have to go and train! You won't even know if you will be picked for the Metal Trial!"_

_Heatblast was silent for a moment. He then said, "Cannonbolt told me that I will be in the Metal Trial…"_

"_He did?"_

"_Yes…he even told me who I was fighting…but I swore to him that I wouldn't tell anyone about it…"said Heatblast who saw the look of curiosity on Ripjaws' face._

"_But…but…why do you even have to train? You're one of the best fighters around!"_

_Heatblast grabbed Ripjaws' hands and looked her straight in the eye, he then said, "Ripjaws…I have to train…what if by some chance I were to lose the round and thus cost us the entire match?"_

_Ripjaws stood thoughtful with that question, she then said, "We would never see each other again…"_

"_Exactly."_

_Ripjaws looked like she was about to start crying…however she sniffled and said, "Well…there's only one thing you can do…"_

_Heatblast looked at her oddly and said, "What?"_

_Ripjaws smiled, "Win."_

--

Cuttooth screamed in delight as he saw his foe hit the ground, he screamed even louder when he saw that he didn't get back up. Pumping his fists in the air (along with the silver chemical too) he shouted, "WATER BEATS FIRE! WATER BEATS FIRE! Haha!"

The crowd booed at him for his arrogance, but Cuttooth shrugged them away. After all he won didn't he?

Just as he was about to do a great bow, he heard a voice around him that almost stopped his heart.

"Yo…Cuttooth…I didn't hear no bell ring…"

Cuttooth snarled and turned around to see Heatblast standing there, and he was ready to dish out some hurtin.


	69. The Metal Trial: Potassium

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I'm glad I'm such a science geek. 8)

--

Cuttooth spat to the ground and said, "You are one stubborn bastard Heatblast."

Heatblast smiled and he said, "Why thank you."

"Too bad it will be the reason you'll die!"

Cuttooth waved his arms about again. The water came to life once more and hurled itself at Heatblast like flying daggers. Heatblast dove to the ground and the watery bullets flew over his head. Quickly getting back up, Heatblast straightened his second and third fingers while curving the rest down. He then shuffled back and forth in a zigzag pattern, all the while avoiding the water attacks. Taking careful aim, he too began to fire fiery bullets. They zoomed through the air in quick succession. The water and fire bullets would sometimes hit each other and create a puff of steam that quickly disappeared into the cold air. Cuttooth also had to do his fair share of dodging as he nimbly avoided the fire bullets. The arena soon became hot and humid as the bullets collided to each other creating more and more steam. After letting loose attacks and dodging others, Cuttooth had just had enough of this. With a scream of anger, he sent a large wave of water at Heatblast.

Heatblast pulled back his left arm and charged up a fireball attack. Using concentrated energy, he let loose the fireball. The fireball whizzed through the air and landed smack in the middle of the wave. Drilling a nice hole through it, the fireball kept going until it fizzed out. Wasting no time, Heatblast raised his hand and aimed carefully at Cuttooth. He then shot a fire bullet at Cuttooth. The fire bullet went right through the hole and towards Cuttooth. Just as the bullet went through the hole, the wave crashed upon Heatblast. Heatblast was picked up by the wave and was carried along harshly. As he was pushed along he saw that he was getting closer and closer to the arena's edge. Heatblast gasped and knew that he will soon be pushed over the arena making Cuttooth the victor. As he was about to reach the edge, something strange happened.

The fire bullet that Heatblast shot finally reached Cuttooth. Cuttooth didn't dodge the attack though for he was still concentrated on the wave and he didn't notice the small flame. However, instead of hitting his face or body, the fiery bullet hit his palm. To be more precise, the bullet hit the chemical that Cuttooth was still holding. The bullet had such force to it that it exploded the mineral into many, many pieces. The pieces exploded all over Cuttooth's body. The chemical reacted so violently with Cuttooth's armor of water that it exploded into a bright flame. In fact, the water _itself_ was burning. Steam and smoke rose into the air as more and more of the pieces landed on Cuttooth. Cuttooth screamed like a crocodile in pain and fell to his knees. All over his slimy body flames were erupting. The intense flames burned him so badly that he felt himself bleed and burn at the same time. This intense pain stopped his attack on Heatblast, which stopped the wave, which stopped Heatblast from falling over the edge. Heatblast calmly got back up and recovered slowly from that harsh water attack. Cuttooth eyes went black and red and he eyeballed Heatblast with murderous rage. Heatblast acted like he didn't see Cuttooth's expression and he slowly walked forward towards him.

Finally, after pure pain and exhaustion came upon him, Cuttooth released his suit of water armor. The water splashed to the floor and the flames almost instantly stopped burning. Cuttooth was too weak to move. He looked down at his ruined and messy body and saw blood pouring over random spots of it. Black and red covered his pale skin as he felt the horrible, throbbing pain. Looking up at Heatblast he said through his horse voice, "What…did…you…_do_…to me?"

Heatblast looked at him calmly and said, "Potassium. Pure, nice, potassium."

Cuttooth snarled in anger and rage and shouted, "DON'T YOU PLAY GAMES WITH ME HEATBLAST! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"

Heatblast was silent for a moment, he then said, "Potassium is an alkali element. When separated into its purest form, potassium becomes one of the most reactive elements ever. So powerful is its reactivity, that even water doesn't stand a chance up against it. In this case, water doesn't put out the fire…it _starts_ the fire."

"No…WATER WINS!"

Cuttooth quickly got back up and summoned the water to him again. However, with potassium fragments still imbedded into his skin, the water reacted again and burst into flames. Cuttooth screamed again in pain and he released his power on water. The water splashed to the ground again and the flames stopped burning.

Heatblast smiled and pulled back his hand, he then let it loose and smacked Cuttooth right in the lower jaw. The jaw slammed into the upper jaw causing several teeth to fall out. Cuttooth stumbled back and almost fell down from the blow. Spitting blood from his mouth he said, "Why you!"

He ran forward to Heatblast again and let out a series of punches. Heatblast nimbly dodged them and punched Cuttooth in the jaw again. Cuttooth stumbled back and before he could recover, Heatblast ran forward and punched him in the face again. Heatblast gritted his teeth and remembered Ripjaws. He remembered all the pain that Cuttooth brought onto her. He remembered all the emotional and physical torture that he brought on to her. He remembered his cruel oppression on her. He remembered all that and more. Filling up with righteous anger and rage, he ran forward and punched Cuttooth again.

Cuttooth stumbled.

He pulled back his fist and let out another punch.

Cuttooth stumbled again.

Heatblast again pulled back his fist and punched him again.

Cuttooth stumbled again and was on the verge of falling when Heatblast caught him. Putting the daze Cuttooth on his feet again he said, "When you get back to your home planet. Tell your friends that Heatblast sent for you. Then no one can mess with Ripjaws ever again!"

Heatblast punched Cuttooth once more.

Cuttooth fell backwards and landed on the ground. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he did not move.

"1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10!"

The stadium's bell rang twice and Round Four was over.


	70. The Metal Trial: The Fourth Intermission

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Now that Avatar is over, , I no longer have a show to waste my time on. So…now I have to find something else to entertain me…which is why…I'm trying out Heroes and the Office to see how they're like!

--

Heatblast slumped to the ground. He was so exhausted that he couldn't stand up anymore. He looked up at the grey sky and smiled at the fact that he won. After taking a deep breath, he laughed heartily and quite loud. It wasn't long before the medics with their stretchers arrived. When they reached Heatblast, he shrugged them off and said, "Ah..I'll be fine…"

"But you're arm!"

Heatblast looked at the place where his right arm should be, shrugging as if it didn't matter, he said, "It'll be fine…all I need to do in order to grow it back is to eat a lot of brimstone."

"You still need to come with us to the hospital though."

Heatblast looked insulted, with a quick reply he said, "And miss the final round of the Metal Trial? I think not!"

Shrugging them off, he walked off the stage, grabbed his knapsack and headed to the elevator.

Back on the balcony everyone was waiting eagerly for Heatblast to return. After high-fifing Upgrade Stinkfly said, "Alright! That's two-for-two! If we win this last round we'll win the Metal Trial!"

Grey Matter looked smug and said, "This last round will be easy! We can take them!"

XLR8 didn't look so confident, leaning over to her good leg she said, "We must not rejoice yet…we ssstill haven't actually won yet."

Diamondhead nodded and said, "Whoever fights in this last round, the pressure will be on their shoulders to win this round and ultimately the Metal Trial."

At this time Heatblast came out of the elevator. Looking both happy and at the same time depressed that it was over he said, "My friends! How have you been?"

The room went up in applauses and shouts of triumph when he said this. Stinkfly went up to Heatblast and said, "You son of a bitch…you really gave us a heart attack when you didn't show up today! Don't you _ever_ do that again!"

Heatblast laughed and said, "It's nice to see you again too Stinkfly."

Heatblast turned to Diamondhead and said, "Have they called out the next fighters yet?"

Diamondhead shook his head and said, "No, as far as I can tell…they're still cleaning up the arena after what you and Cuttooth did."

Heatblast laughed once more and said, "After the watery mess that Cuttooth made I'm not at all surprised!"

XLR8 looked more cross than usual for she then said, "Thanksss to Cuttooth…the bathroom'sss don't work anymore…"

Grey Matter laughed at her comment and said, "What's the matter XLR8? Got to do a little…"

XLR8 looked Grey Matter straight in the eye with the coldest glare she could muster. Grey Matter's smile faltered and said, "…Ah…nevermind…"

Ghostfreak swiveled her eye to the arena and said, _"the workers are done with their clean up…they are leaving the arena…"_

Stinkfly pumped her fists into the air and said, "Alright! I'm ready to be picked! Bring it on! Whoever fights me is up for some woopin'!

The room became silent as everyone waited for the announcer to begin.

"Ladies and Gentlemen…it's time…FOR THE FINAL ROUND!!"

The audience cheered like they never cheered before. Never in all of the Metal Trial have they seen such good action. They knew that this last round should be good.

"First off…for Team A…it's DIAMONDHEAD!"

The audience cheered while Diamondhead's gray eyes narrowed. His teammates whooped and cheered once his name was called. Stinkfly looked disappointed but she nodded and cheered along.

Without saying a word, Diamondhead turned around and walked to the elevator. Once the doors slid open he walked in and waited for them to close. Before they did so, XLR8 said, "Who will fight, Diamondhead? Yin or Yang?"

Diamondhead looked her straight in the eye and said, "The one who's best at fighting of course."

Once down at the floor level, Diamondhead walked out of the elevator and towards the arena. Up and up the stairs he went until he reached the arena floor. After doing a few quick warm ups, he was ready to go. His opponent wasn't at the other side yet, however, he heard loud footsteps coming his way.

The footsteps sounded harsh and tough, they sounded like metal beating on metal. Like a machine pumping its way through its daily task. Then, up from the stairs came a tall robot. Diamondhead raised a bright eyebrow at his opponent. The robot was rather tall and thin. It had several built in guns at the arms, and other strange weapons on the waist line and body. It had dirty, strong fingers and loose wires that sprout up here and there. Its head was cylindrical with several "eyes" that blinked red and blue and its overall color was that of a grimy grey. After reaching its intended place the robot said, "Greetings Diamondhead, I am Tenten."

Diamondhead bowed to his opponent and got into a fighting stance.

The announcer's voice came on up above.

"READY…BEGIN!!"

The stadium's bell rang twice. Round Five has begun.


	71. The Metal Trial: Tenten

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Sorry this wasn't up sooner…internet wasn't working…gah.

--

As they were watching the fighters head on stage, XLR8 and the rest heard a door open and shut behind them. They turned around and saw a battered Four Arms and a scuffed up Blizzard standing there. Everyone exclaimed in surprise at their arrival and then showered them with words of approval and excitement. Four Arms looked somewhat smug and Blizzard looked almost embarrassed. Grey Matter stepped up and said, "What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be down in the hospital?"

Four Arms, who was carrying a pair of crutches and was wearing a sling around one of his arms, said, "And miss the last round? Especially if the fighter is Diamondhead? Forget it!"

Wildmutt ran up to Four Arms and trounced on him. He then gave his master's face a large licking with his wet tongue. Four Arms laughed at Wildmutt's antics and he scratched his chin. Wildmutt purred at being touched with a reassuring hand.

Blizzard nodded and said, "By the time Heatblast's fight was over, we were "well enough" to come and watch Diamondhead."

Heatblast stepped up and said, "How's Ripjaws?"

Blizzard looked a little downtrodden when he mentioned her and said, "She's still unconscious the poor thing. But she looks alright."

Before Heatblast could say anything, Ghostfreak's cold voice said, _"If I may say so…the round is starting…"_

--

Once the bell rang, Tenten raised his arms and let loose a barrage of bullets. Diamondhead ducked out of the way and rolled behind a rock. The bullets glanced carelessly off of the brown boulder as Diamondhead hid behind it.

_Let me at him! Let me at him!_ Cried out Yang.

"Go ahead…be my guest," replied Yin.

Diamondhead's eyes changed from steel grey to sky blue. With a confident smile and a flex of his muscles, he burst off from behind the rock and ran towards Tenten. The bullets glanced off of Diamondhead easier than they did to the rock. Diamondhead smiled grandly and he molded his hand into a large, sharp spike. Once near his foe, Diamondhead did a series of jabs. Tenten dodged the attacks while doing a series of punches himself. After awhile, Tenten quickly stepped back and opened up his chest plate. A small, satellite dish-like thing unfolded itself and popped out of the chest.

"What the-?" exclaimed Diamondhead.

Before he could do anything else, an intense, high pitched sound wave came forth from the dish. The sound wave slammed into Diamondhead. Diamondhead screamed in pain as the sound rattled his skin and innards. Gritting his teeth, Diamondhead jumped to the side away from the attack. But Tenten quickly adjusted the dish and the sound wave slammed into him again. He screamed in pain as the sound shook him hard.

_Enough of this nonsense_, said Yin, _I'll finish him off._

Diamondhead's eyes changed color once again and with quick motions, a diamond barrier rose up from the ground and protected him from the wave attack. But the diamond wall was no match for the sound attack and it shattered into pieces. However, by this time Diamondhead ducked behind a rock again and fired diamond shards at Tenten. Tenten, with precise robotic speed, folded up his dish and unfolded from his arms two large sledgehammers. The robot moved about in a calculated way while flinging his hammers. The diamond shards shattered to pieces as the hammers knocked them down. Diamondhead bared his teeth and, while still shooting the shards, slammed his foot down on the ground. Large, iceberg shaped diamonds began popping up from the ground towards Tenten. Tenten opened up his satellite dish again and fired his sound wave at the diamonds. The diamonds exploded and fell to the ground sporadically like it was hailing. A small hatch opened up from Tenten's waistline and a small barrel popped out of it. Then, a grenade was shot out of said barrel and landed near Diamondhead. Diamondhead stopped his firing of diamond shards and he jumped out of the way in time. The explosion blew apart the boulder and created a rather large crater. When he got back up, he slammed his foot on the ground and a large diamond shot out of the ground behind Tenten. The diamond slammed into his back and launched the robot warrior forward. Eyes changing color once again, Diamondhead ran forward with his fists pulled back. The stumbling robot was still recovering from the earlier attack and got hit right in the chest plate. Because of this, the satellite dish crumbled under the heavy blow and stopped its shrilling attack.

"HA!" shouted Diamondhead, "No more sound from YOU!"

Then, out from Tenten's shoulders came two small rocket launchers. Diamondhead's eyes got wide and he ducked just in time before two small rockets whizzed over his head. The rockets went this way and that before they exploded upon the ground. Diamondhead was about to punch Tenten again when Tenten kicked him right in the jaw. Diamondhead stumbled back and fell to the ground. Tenten folded up his twin sledgehammers and unfolded from his wrists two small satellite dishes. After spitting out several diamond teeth, Diamondhead cussed and he got back up to do another attack. But Tenten was too quick for him. Extending his fingers, he shot out several cable wires. The wires wrapped around Diamondhead putting him in a tight situation. While struggling to get out, Tenten raised his wrist satellite dishes and fired two sound wave attacks.

The sound waves caught Diamondhead right in the head. Diamondhead screamed in agony, for he had never felt this much pain in his entire life. His mouth was chattering, his head felt loose and his eyes felt like they were going to explode. He felt like he was losing his mind.

Then…he heard something from his mind.

_Diamondhead! Save me!_

A brief image of a female Petrosapien flashed in his mind before it went dark. Shaking his head, Diamondhead's eyes turned to steel grey. Trying to clear his mind, he opened his eyes and released a barrage of diamond shards from his body. The cables were slashed to pieces and fell to the ground limply. He then slammed his foot on the ground and a diamond wall shot up from the ground. With a brief moment of peace from the sound attack, Diamondhead tried to think of a plan. Before anything came to his head, his diamonded wall burst to pieces. The sound waves caught him in its threshold again. He screamed in pain as his whole body began to shake apart. He eyes flashed colors every second and he grabbed his head in agony. He felt some of his fingers break off once they clutched his head. The images came back again as his mind was jarred this way and that.

He saw a dark cave that was riddled with passages.

He saw a young, female Petrosapien who was smiling broadly.

He saw Tenten with a weird, purple humanoid.

He saw an old reptilian alien who was dressed in long, outlandish robes.

He shook his mind again and Diamondhead tried to walk, but his legs gave away and he fell to the ground. He felt his body slowly fall to pieces as the sound waves bore into him. As everything was falling apart, he dimly realized that he was dying.

--

XLR8 leaned forward and exclaimed, "Diamondhead! What'sss wrong with him? He looksss like he'sss getting hurt! But that robot isn't doing anything to him!"

Four Arms stepped up and said, "It's sound waves, that robot is producing sound waves. Its one of the few things a Petrosapien is vulnerable to."

"How do you know?"

Four Arms pointed a finger to Wildmutt who was in the corner whimpering loudly and covering his ears.

"Wildmutt can pick up frequencies that no average alien can hear. His reaction defiantly points to sound waves."

"We got to do sssomething!"

Four Arms shook his head and said, "If we interfere, Diamondhead will lose the round and we will ultimately lose the match."

"But that robot isss trying to _kill_ Diamondhead!"

Four Arms gave her a hopeless expression and just shrugged. Ghostfreak, who was staring off into space said, _"Diamondhead's aura is growing fainter and fainter by the second, I believe that if the robot keeps of its relentless attack, Diamondhead will die…"_

XLR8 looked around at everyone else who had the same horrified and conflicted feeling. Realizing she couldn't just stand there, she jumped on the counter and kicked the pane of glass with her good foot. The glass shattered into pieces and rained on everyone.

"Hey!" shouted Grey Matter who was hiding under Ghostfreak (which didn't work since the glass went right through her), "What are you doing?"

XLR8 turned to him and said, "I don't know…but sssomething that will help sssave Diamondhead."

She looked down and saw that there was a ledge jutting out. Taking great care not to miss, she jumped down onto the ledge and shouted with all her might, "Get up Diamondhead! Get up!"

--

All of a sudden, the sound waves stopped. Diamondhead didn't know why they stopped but they did. He felt horrible, conflicted and dead. Faintly, he heard the clomping steps of the robot approach him. As he lied there, he also heard the announcer shout out the countdown. He wished that all of his pain, suffering and confusion would go away. He felt the barrel of a gun press against his head. The robot then said with its cold voice, "I injured you enough that you will have no chance in surviving. No one can help you after the match is done, and if you try to get back up…" at this point the gun pressed even harder against his head, "I'll blow your head off."

In the midst of the robot talking and the announcer counting and the audience cheering he heard a voice call out, "Get up Diamondhead! Get up!"

"_Get up Diamondhead!" cried the female Petrosapien, "Get up!"_

Diamondhead's eyes flashed rapidly again before going to clear, snow white. Closing his eyes again, he fell into a deep sleep.


	72. The Metal Trial: When We Were One

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I do apologize about not updating. But thanks to the recent comments I have started again. College, is college, what do you expect? But as I recall, I vowed one time long ago that I would finish this fanfic. This is one of the longest Ben 10 fanfics ever, and damn me if I'm not going to let some sorry sods (no offense) take it away from me! Onto the story!

---------------------

_Many years ago…_

Diamondhead viewed the giant ore deposits with both admiration and awe. Down in the dark caves of his planet, ore was a commonly mined resource that was used primarily for the many gems that were buried deep within its dark substance. As he looked at the cool and damp walls, the gems glittered back at him like stars shining down from the night sky. He placed a large, bulky hand on an ore and felt the substance rub smoothly against his hard skin.

"Beautiful, isn't it? I know we are made of same materials as these gemstones, but there is something magical about these stones. They're so full of…life. Millions of years have gone by, and these gemstones have been melted, solidify, crushed and molded into various shapes and forms. If only they can tell us their secrets…"

The Petrosapian female near him grabbed hold of his arm and leaned her head upon his shoulder. Diamondhead smiled and gently placed his hand around her.

"Few people can delve into the past and find its lost secrets," she said, "But I bet your one of those few!"

Diamondhead lifted his hand off of the wall and went in for an embrace. After a lifetime of eternity but was in reality only twenty seconds, he released his hold. He then said, "I'm the luckiest fool upon this planet."

She giggled; she then said softly in return, "That makes the two of us."

Hand in hand, they walked down the sparkling tunnel. Stepping over rocks and ducking underneath the tulgey ceiling, they talked of many things. Of birthdays and novels and science fiction and whether or not Pyronites really do have brains.

They paused in front of a small, mineral rich stream. They took each other again and embraced even longer than before. Diamondhead looked up and said, "Let's go this way! We never gone through this tunnel before!"

And without her replying he dashed off, following the river as a petal would follow the wind. She didn't hesitate for a moment for she too dashed off, all the while shouting, "I'm going to catch you this time!"

"Haha! I bet you won't!" he replied. His base voice reverberated off of the gnarled walls.

Diamondhead slowed down, she came closer and closer, but just as she was about to reach him he sped back up again. He playfully laughed at her and this time slowed down enough for her to catch him. She pounced upon him like a Vulpinmancer and held onto him tight.

"Looks like you caught me," he said as if it didn't matter to him.

"Looks like I did," she replied as if it didn't really matter to her.

They both smiled again and this time walked arm and arm together.

While they were walking, Diamondhead said, "Soon Asthena, we will be traveling the universe! Looking for adventure and learning about the mysteries of the world. Can you believe it will only be a month before we go?"

Asthena suddenly looked very sad and said, "Diamondhead…I'm afraid I have some bad news…"

She looked down at her feet and was not willing to look at him in the eye, plainly, she did not want to go on. Diamondhead looked at her with fear and said, "What's wrong, Asthena?"

Asthena looked back up at him and said slowly, "My bill came in a few days ago, and I'm afraid I made a devastating mistake. It seems that I have a lot more to pay off than I originally thought I did. I'm afraid…we can't go next month."

Diamondhead was a bit relieved that it was just a bill but he was still sad that they had to delay their trip. With a small smile he said, "Well, I'm sure that you'll pay off your debt soon and we'll be out of here in no time!" Diamondhead didn't know how much he meant that. Asthena had been paying her scholarly fund for several years now, if she found out she made a mistake, she might have to spend another year here.

Asthena grabbed hold of Diamondhead tightly and said, "I'm so sorry! I know how much this trip meant to you. Every time we saw each other you talked about meeting new people and exploring new worlds, I hope I didn't let you down…"

Diamondhead returned the hug and said, "Of course not. These things happen, it's just the way things are. I will wait and when you have taken care of everything, we will go."

Asthena pulled Diamondhead in for an embrace, that took him off guard since he wasn't expecting that but he delve in anyways.

A sound from down the tunnel perked his ears (that is, if he had anything that could be called ears).

"Did you hear that?" he said.

Asthena shook her head.

"Come on, let's see what it is…"

Diamondhead and Asthena slowly walked through the dark tunnel. As they walked through it the sound got louder. It sounded like a great machine pumping away. Chug. Chug. It went sounding like a monster breathing in and out. Diamondhead and Asthena crept up to it and peered out behind a greasy rock to see what it was.

Whatever Diamondhead thought he was going to see, it definitely wasn't it. He gasped in horror as he saw many of his species hauling large deposits of ore. They carried the grimy material through the large cavern, and placed their load onto a machine that had a conveyer belt going. Robots stood guard at all sides, pointing their weapons at them to keep moving. The Petrosapians looked miserable and most of them looked cracked or broken. Standing on top of a guard tower stood a menacing figure that was violet in color. Diamondhead looked at him and said, "By the Mines of Rhyolite…that's Sixsix! The famous bounty hunter!"

"What's he doing in a place like this?" said Asthena who was scared by all of this.

Diamondhead gritted his teeth and said, "I don't know…but my guess is that he's using our species to harvest the mines down here. He's getting rich while everyone else dies."

"We got to go get help Diamondhead!" Asthena said, tugging at his shoulder.

Diamondhead didn't want to; he wanted to go kick all of their asses right now. But reason and logic for now outweighed his emotions.

But just then, one of the Petrosapians fell down, he shuddered on the ground as a robot looked down at him with no pity. Stepping up to the Petrosapian, the robot unleashed a wave of sound from its gun. The Petrosapian screamed and right before Diamondhead's eyes, he began to fall apart. Diamondhead's emotion then outweighed his reason and he jumped up from his hiding spot. He sprinted with all his might and before anyone could react, he punched the robot right in the gut. The robot staggered back and sparks of electricity danced out of its wound. Diamondhead pulled back his hand again and punched the robot right in the head. The robot's head exploded and it fell to the ground.

Diamondhead looked down at the fallen Petrosapian and said, "Hey, you alright, buddy?"

But as the words were coming out of his mouth, Diamondhead instinctually knew he was dead. The body laid there, as lifeless as the robot next to him.

Sixsix looked out from his tower and screamed in rage as he saw his robot dismantled upon the oily floor. Screaming in his guttural language, all of the robots received their order and about faced and walked towards Diamondhead.

"Shit," said Diamondhead. Diamondhead raised his palms and shot diamonds at the robots. Some of the diamonds bounced off but others penetrated the hard, outer shell of the robots and "killed" them on the spot. But there were too many of them, one robot got close enough to Diamondhead and released a wave of sound at him. The high pitched screech was horrible to Diamondhead. He screamed in agony as the waves took his diamond body and began to shatter it. He thought he was going to die when all of a sudden, the sound stopped. He looked up and saw Asthena, with her hand straight through the torso of the robot. The robot looked at the diamond hand in surprise before it slumped down like a puppet whose strings were cut from it. Asthena threw aside the robot and ran up to Diamondhead.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!" Using her strength, she lifted up Diamondhead and began to drag him out. But more robots came at them and one shot a pulsating wave of sound at her back. Asthena screamed and dropped Diamondhead to the ground. Hearing her scream gave righteous energy back to him and he stood back up and shot the robot in the head. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her out of the cavern.

But as he was doing that, a pissed off Sixsix-who made sure his Petrosapian slaves wouldn't go anywhere-took out a sound wave rifle and took careful aim at Diamondhead. He fired and the sound screamed through the air and landed directly onto Diamondhead's arm. The arm exploded off of his body and his connection with Asthena was no more. She staggered to the ground and looked in shock as she realized she was holding Diamondhead's arm. Diamondhead fell to the ground and groaned in pain and agony.

Asthena looked up and saw Diamondhead and his dire situation, she shouted, "Get up Diamondhead! Get up!"

Diamondhead groaned and looked behind him to see Asthena…crying? Diamondhead's head ached as he tried to remember the last time he saw any Petrosapian cry before. He shook it out, he had to get Asthena.

But Sixsix thought otherwise, taking careful aim, he fired into Asthena's back. The sound wave penetrated her and her body was blown apart making shards of diamonds. The sound was so powerful, that the tunnel's walls shook and rocks fell in. Diamondhead got out of the way in time as the fallen rocks separated him from the rest of the cavern. He fell to the floor and tried to comprehend what just happened.

Silence.

The silence was unbearable and so was the darkness, not one gemstone glittered.

He leaned against the wall and he too began to cry.

--------------

_To move on with his life and to forget everything that happened to him. Diamondhead began to distance himself from everything he once knew and loved. And he tried his best to get rid of emotion, for having emotion brings nothing but sadness and anger to oneself. But all of that failed. Instead of becoming as lifeless as the gemstones of the cavern, he became split in personality. One, Yang, represented emotion and happiness, a cry out to a time long past. The other, Yin, represented the cold and heartless being that Diamondhead tried to become. And becoming two different people, he successfully forgot his past._

_But for what price?_

------------------------------

Diamondhead opened his tiger yellow eyes. _What the-?_ He thought, _How the null void did I come back?_

Diamondhead shook his head and he sat back up and saw the barrel of a gun looking down at him. With quick reflexes, he slapped the gun out of the way and the gun went flying. Diamondhead looked up and saw the robot looking back at him with an almost curious look upon it.

_You…are not dead…_ it said.

Diamondhead jumped back up and the crowd roared with life. He looked around stupidly and suddenly, he knew why he was here and what he had to do. Stretching his body around he said, "I'm not surprise, when you have a stubborn fool made out of diamonds…you have a fool who is hard to kill. Now…"

Getting into a fighting pose, Diamondhead smiled and said, "Come on baby! Let's see what you're made of!"


	73. The Metal Trial: Team Omnitrix

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Hard to believe that I had the whole Metal Trial planned out for several years now. Man, I thought waaay ahead. This, was the most important part of the story line for me, and I'm glad I got a lot of things right.

---------------------

Tenten fired his wrists noise blasters at Diamondhead. Diamondhead quickly jumped out of the way and fired his diamond shards at the robot. The diamond shards bounced harmlessly off of the metal skin. Tenten fired his sound waves again and caught Diamondhead off guard. He groaned with pain as the waves began to shatter him, but with quick movements he slammed his hands to the ground and raised up a wall of rock and mud. The rock absorbed the sound waves and Diamondhead was released from the pain.

Diamondhead smiled to himself, he still remembered that trick. Unlike most Petrosapians which are limited in their control of crystals, Diamondhead is able to utilize his power of crystals to the max. Utilizing tiny crystals that can be found in the earth, Diamondhead can move the earth wherever he chooses. As he pulls each individual crystal, the crystal themselves move the rock with it.

Diamondhead took a deep breath and then calmed himself. With quick and sharp movements he began to move the rock around him and fire it at the robot. The robot was slammed from all directions and it tried desperately to defend himself. With a slab of rock protecting him and raining stone distracting the robot, Diamondhead slowly approached the robot for the final blow.

The robot saw that he was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. Diamondhead was coming towards him and he needed to do something fast. Tenten the saw the balcony that hosted Diamondhead's teammates. After doing a quick calculation of his chances of winning, Tenten fired a small missile at the balcony. Diamondhead cried out as he watched the missile scream towards his team members.

----------

When they saw that Tenten fired a missile at them, Upgrade and the rest of the team members quickly hit the ground and protected themselves from whatever disaster might happen to them. Ghostfreak quickly grabbed hold of Grey Matter and turned him invisible while Four Arms protected Stinkfly by hunching over her.

The missile luckily slammed into wall just below the balcony, however, unluckily the front part of the balcony was caving in. XLR8, who was nearer to the front, screamed in terror as the floor below her began to fall apart. Four Arms saw this and shouted, "XLR8!"

XLR8 then began to fall along with the rubble. As she was falling she saw Four Arms trying to reach out and save her but she knew it was too late. Closing her eyes, she waited for the impact.

----------

Diamondhead saw XLR8 fall from the balcony. He screamed out in anger and in disparity as he watched her plummet to the ground. Diamondhead quickly released his power over the rocks and with rapid movements, he grew out a slab of crystals from the building's wall. The crystals came out just in time and caught the falling XLR8. XLR8 landed safely upon the crystals along with the other falling rubble.

Then, Diamondhead cried out in pain for more of the malicious sound waves started cutting into his crystal skin. Tenten then released another missile at Diamondhead. Diamondhead gritted his teeth in anger.

_I have failed in the past before. I wasn't able to protect myself and Asthena. Damn me, if that won't happen again. I WILL NOT FAIL!_

With a rush of energy, Diamondhead sent a shower of mud and rock up from the ground and towards the missile. The rocks and mud collided with the missile and sent in careening into the sky, where it whizzed this way and that before it exploded. Diamondhead then clenched his fists and earth surrounding Tenten suddenly moved from underneath him. The mud then wrapped himself around his legs and then firmly solidified around him.

Diamondhead waved his arms again and two jet streams of mud shot from the ground and wrapped themselves around Tenten. Diamondhead clenched his fists once again and the mud snapped off the arms like it was a pair of twigs.

Diamondhead took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Feeling the life and energy of all the crystals that surrounded him, he began his final dance of destruction. Opening his eyes, he shot out a mighty wave of mud at Tenten.

The torrent of rock, mud and diamonds slammed into Tenten causing his whole body to be ripped off of his legs which were still firmly stuck to the ground. The body was pushed by the earthy material like it was a huge wave and it flew through the cold air. It flew so far that it fell beyond the edge of the ring. The body crashed upon the floor and did not move. Tenten's red eyes blinked several times before fading into darkness.

The stadium bell rang four times.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" cried the announcer, "THE MATCH IS OVER! TEAM A IS THE WINNER!"

The crowd erupted into roars, shouts and cheers even before the announcer said all of this. Diamondhead looked at the dead robot like it was the most unbelievable thing he had ever seen. He felt happy but stunned. With his win, he and his team will be able to stay at the Academy for just a little longer.

Which means…

His thoughts were then interrupted by all his team members who surrounded him and barraged him with cries of joy. It all happened so fast that he was dimly aware that he shook hands with Heatblast, punched in the shoulder by Stinkfly and given several high fives to Four Arms. But the adrenaline feelings of the battle soon left him and his feelings of happiness quickly took over. He laughed a great hardy laugh as he watched his friends jumping with joy or dancing with pride. They all then piled over him and hugged tremendously, with he still laughing.

By now, a lot of the audience came down to the fighting arena like a massive herd to congratulate the fighters. It was so overwhelming to hear these people chant his and his team member names. He almost wished he didn't have to deal with them now. Right now, he just wanted to be with his friends.

Diamondhead looked over the shoulders of the crowd and saw several injured people coming his way. He recognized them immediately and said, "Hey everybody! Look who's here!"

------------

Upgrade looked where Diamondhead was pointing to and he saw Blizzard and Ripjaws coming back from the medial center. He looked down and saw that Grey Matter was boasting to several students at once about how great his team was. Seeing his little friend busy, Upgrade walked over to Blizzard. When she saw him she stopped and she gave an embarrassed smile as he approached her.

"Hi…" she said.

"Hello," he replied.

"Look, Upgrade…about the future…"

Upgrade cut her off and said, "The future can wait. For now, I must ask to see if you are okay."

Upgrade didn't explicitly say that he was concerned for her. For, did he have feelings for her? Though Upgrade was nowhere near as naïve as he was about emotions when he started out in this world, he still had much to progress. Love? Devotion? Jealousy? What are these except words and descriptions that one may read from a dictionary? No book, as Upgrade has found out, can truly explain an emotion, one must experience it himself. But, if there was anyone that could teach him emotion it would be Blizzard would it not? For her emotion seemed to outweigh her reason and she seems quite proud of that. It reminded him, oddly, of Grey Matter. Always speaking his mind no matter what the consequences. He must look into this more.

If Blizzard realized that Upgrade is not sure of his feelings towards her, she did not show it on her face. Instead, she replied, "Aye. I'm okay, the medics wanted me to be in bed longer but I said screw them and I took Ripjaws and left."

Upgrade nodded and said, "Well…that is…good."

"Yes, yes it is."

Just then, several of her male supporters bounded up to her like eager dogs and started showering her with compliments about the way she looked and also the way she battled. She egotistically smiled and said that it was nothing and how she was born to fight from the day she was born.

Upgrade looked at her and realized he still had lots to learn about women and…relationships. Once she was surrounded, he quietly blended back into the crowd.

Once Blizzard finally shrugged off her admirers and looked up to see if Upgrade was still there. To her disappointment, he was not.

-------------

Stinkfly flew through the air looking down at the crowd in dismay. Her four eyestalks twisted this way and that in hopes of finding him.

_Where could he be?_ she thought

She put her hands to her mouth and shouted, "Ditto! Ditto!"

But it was no use, in the crowd's caucophony of noise, her own scream was drowned out.

"Come on..." she said to herself in agony, "Ditto!"

And then she saw him and he saw her. Ditto smiled and waved her down. She flew in quickly and tackled him to the ground. Once on the ground, Ditto said in spry amusement, "Well hello Stinkfly."

Stinkfly nodded her head and said, "Hello, Ditto."

"Congratulations on winning your match," said Ditto calmly as if being pinned down by a giant insect was something that happened to him every day.

"Thanks, though, I wished I was given a chance to fight."

Ditto shrugged and said, "What we want and what we get in life are not always the same."

"Yeah…"

They looked at each other in thoughtful silence, Stinkfly then said, "Well, when are you leaving?"

Ditto smiled, "Why Stinkfly, whatever do you mean?"

Stinkfly cocked her head to the side and said, "But your team lost! The rules state that the losing team goes home!"

"Oh that, turns out that that's nothing more than a ploy for us to fight our very best. Regardless on who wins or who loses, the fighters who have shown their high skill in fighting get to stick around a little longer. My team showed that they were very good so…you have not rid of me yet! Speaking of which, would you like to go on a picnic with me?"

Stinkfly smiled, "I would be delighted."

---------------

Ripjaws pushed her way through the crowd, all the while begging her pardon for those that she slightly shoved out of the way. She still felt weak from her match and felt light headed every now and then but she was well enough that she could walk. The crowd took her by surprise, one minute she was alone with Blizzard and the next she was separated by her and a wave of students. Ripjaws kept looking this way and that until finally she found Heatblast.

She rushed towards him in a hurry and stopped right in front of him, he was busy talking to some students when he saw her. He quickly said his goodbyes and walked up to her, with flames of flickering.

Heatblast smiled and held out his hand, "Hi, my name is Heatblast and you are?"

Ripjaws smiled sheepishly and took his hand, "Ripjaws, pleasure to meet you."

Ripjaws then saw that Heatblast only had one arm, she screamed like a dying porpoise and said, "Heatblast! What happened to your arm?"

Heatblast shrugged and said, "Well, your ex-fiancé destroyed it with his water power. I'm not too worried, it will grow back in time.

"I'm so sorry about your arm!" said Ripjaws who was on the brink of tears, "I hope Cuttooth didn't hurt you!"

Heatblast shrugged and said, "Nah, it wasn't _that_ bad. Besides, I screwed him up pretty good, plus…"

Heatblast rummaged through his knapsack and pulled out a blue orb.

"Without his Water Orb, Cuttooth is helpless out of water, he'll be spending the rest of his life in a fish bowl! Haha, took care of that son of a whore."

Ripjaws shakily took Heatblast's hand and said in a quiet voice, "You know…we have a lot to do now that your back…you've been gone for quite some time…"

Heatblast looked thoughtful to that statement and said, "Yes, and you and I have a lot to talk about."

--------------------

Four Arms stood off to the side of the arena, well away from the crowd of students. His faithful companion, Wildmutt, stood proudly by his side. Four Arms scratched Wildmutt behind the ears as he looked on to the crowd and, more intently, on all of the relationships of the students.

"I do not know why they burden themselves now with these relationships," he told to Wildmutt, "I always view relationships more trouble than they were worth."

Wildmutt looked up to him as if he could understand him. He gave a questioning grunt towards Four Arms' opinion.

"Don't think of me as some kind of person who doesn't believe in love mind you," he said as if Wildmutt could truly understand such thoughts and ideas, "It's just that…I'm not ready to settle down yet…"

Four Arms looked through the crowd and saw to his relief that Tiny wasn't there, the female Tetramand always seemed keen on doing activities that boyfriends and girlfriends usually do. At first it was fun but after awhile it got tedious and so confining. Four Arms needed to tell her that he needs his space but he still didn't have the courage to do that yet.

"But, they sure are happy, I would be too if I were in their shoes but I'm not."

Wildmutt rubbed his head against his leg, Four Arms smiled and rubbed his chin.

"Hell, what does it matter to me? I'm a prince for fighting sakes! What do princes' know about love?"

Wildmutt, clearly bored with the conversation, started scratching himself. Four Arms took that as a sign for him to shut up. Four Arms agreed because he thought the conversation was going nowhere.

-----------------

As the crowd slowly thinned around him, Diamondhead saw XLR8 ahead. She looked him squarely in the eye and she slowly approached him. Diamondhead hesitated. Then, he too walked forward and soon, the two were standing quite near each other. XLR8 looked at him and said, "Ssso, thisss isss the real you, correct?"

Diamondhead nodded.

XLR8 continued to look at him and said, "Well, congratsss on your victory, oh, and thanksss for sssaving my life."

Diamondhead gave a hint of a smile and said, "Well, you know I wouldn't have been able to win if it wasn't for your encouragement."

XLR8 blushed to this comment and said, "What'sss a girl got to do? You were just laying there being tortured…sssomeone had to help you out."

A memory flashed in his head, it was Asthena, and her death in the hands of Sixsix. Diamondhead gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"I'm not strong enough yet. I got to keep training to protect my friends. I have let them down too many times."

XLR8 took one of her crutches and hit Diamondhead on the head with it. Though he wasn't hurt by it, he was still taken aback by it. XLR8 leaned on the crutch again and said, "Idiot. You just won your battle. You helped usss win the Metal Trial. No matter how you look at it, you didn't let usss down."

XLR8 then quickly pull Diamondhead down for a hug, she then whispered, "And you certainly didn't let me down."

Diamondhead stood there, hunched over the small XLR8 in her awkward hug. Slowly, he too wrapped his rough and glittery arms around her and returned the favor.

And then he thought of Asthena.

Diamondhead let go of XLR8 and quickly backed away. XLR8 looked stunned, "What, what isss it?"

"I-I…" Diamondhead stuttered, he suddenly felt tears coming back, "I can't associate myself with you! I…I'm so sorry!"

Diamondhead screamed and he fell to the ground clutching his head. XLR8 ran up to him and yelled, "Diamondhead! Are you alright? Diamondhead!"

Diamondhead quivered there. After a brief moment, he stopped. XLR8 took him and tried to snap out of it. She was about to call medics when Diamondhead's eyes snapped open. When she saw this, she leaned forward, "Diamondhead…?"

Diamondhead then jumped up from the ground which surprised XLR8 and he shouted, "WOOHOO! We won the Metal Trial! Heck yeah! Hey, XLR8! Give me a high five!"

XLR8 was stunned, what happened? She then peered into his eyes and saw to her horror that they were blue and no longer the tiger yellow.

"Y-yang?" she stuttered, hoping beyond all hope that what she thought was what was wrong.

But it was, "Yep!" Yang said, "That's me and don't you forget it, little missy! OMG, it's Four Arms! I got to go give him a high five for his fight! Catch you later!"

He left the stunned XLR8 where she was. She watched him sprint off in agony and in despair.

"_I would not feel depressed about this if I were you,"_ said a cold and distant voice.

XLR8 jumped and saw Ghostfreak standing behind her. Ghostfreak always had the unsettling habit of sneaking up to people. XLR8 was so unnerved by her approach that she said, "W-what?"

"_Correct me if I'm wrong but you have a certain attraction to Diamondhead, is that correct?"_

XLR8 looked up at the calm and horrendous looking female. Normally, if anyone asked her such a question, she would hotly deny it (especially if the said person was Grey Matter). But with Ghostfreak…she could trust her but she didn't know why. Maybe because she seemed to have all of her wits unlike most of her colleagues. And maybe also she wouldn't tease her about it. XLR8 nodded and said, "Yesss, that isss true."

Ghostfreak nodded and looked at the running Diamondhead, she then said, _"Funny, you two both have such tragic pasts. Maybe, that is why you two feel a connection."_

"Tragic past? What do you mean?"

Ghostfreak looked at her with her one eye and slowly said, _"If you do not know about Diamondhead's past then I feel I should not tell you about it. That, you should discover on your own. If you really like Diamondhead, you must see why he is what he is."_

"Do you think he'll come back?" said XLR8 meaning the original Diamondhead.

Ghostfreak was silent for a moment. She then looked at Grey Matter who was busy chatting away with Upgrade merrily. She then said, _"I'm sure that one day, the Tiger spirit of Diamondhead will return. It's all a matter if you are willing to face your past, as well as his. In order for a relationship to truly work, both sides must be committed."_

XLR8 pondered that statement. She then nodded and said, "I think I sssee. Thanksss Ghostfreak."

"_My pleasure."_

Just then, an alien came up to XLR8 and Ghostfreak and said, "Excuse me misses. But we're ready to take your photograph."

"Photograph?"

"Why of course! The team that wins the round gets to have a photograph taken of them. We then frame the photograph and give them to all of the team members. Now come along!"

XLR8 and Ghostfreak looked at each other and then followed the photographer.

--------------

"Hell yeah, bitches!" said Grey Matter as he rode on top of Upgrade, "We get to have our photograph taken!"

Upgrade gave an electronic chuckle and said, "For once, I'm not the one taking the photograph. Someone else is."

Grey Matter rubbed his bald head and said, "Alas, if only I had hair to cover up my cranium. Then I would just be too sexy!"

Upgrade rubbed his head and said, "I wouldn't, I'd just look stupid."

Grey Matter and Upgrade then walked up to the group where everyone else was taking their position for the photo. Grey Matter jumped off of Upgrade's shoulder and said, "Well! I'm going to take the front row! After all, I'm the most important member!"

XLR8, who was also in the front row, snorted, "Asss if. The only reason why you usually are in the front role isss because your ssso short!"

Grey Matter feigned a stab to his chest and said, "You cut me XLR8! You cut me deep!"

Grey Matter stood proudly in the center of the group, once everyone was in a good position, the photographer shouted, "Hold it! I still need a name for the team!"

"A name?" said XLR8 who thought the idea was preposterous.

The photographer nodded vigorously and said, "Sure! Don't tell me you want your placard to say "Team A" don't you? Now, what's the name going to be?"

"Team…Grey Matter" shouted Grey Matter.

XLR8 rolled her eyes and said, "How modest."

"Team Kickass!" shouted Stinkfly

"No, Team Vulpinmancer!" replied Four Arms.

Wildmutt barked in agreement.

"Nah, we should be Team Rainbow, since we're all the colors of the rainbow!" shouted Yang.

"Stupid…" muttered Heatblast to himself.

"Team…Awesome?" suggested Ripjaws.

"The Element Team!" shouted Blizzard.

Upgrade thought about it and said, "Oh! How about Team Omnitrix?"

Grey Matter looked up to him oddly and said, "Omnitrix? What's an Omnitrix?"

Upgrade scratched his head and said, "I…don't know…I heard it somewhere before but I don't remember where…"

Ghostfreak then said _"I kind of like it…it sounds like our team is wide and dispersed. Like were All Tricks and we can handle any situation."_

After some talk, everyone went with Team Omnitrix. The photographer smiled and said, "Okay! On the count of three One…two…three!"

And right before the flash went off, Grey Matter flipped off the camera.


	74. The Surviving Tale

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** If anyone has any ideas of short, one chapter stories, I'll be glad to hear them since it makes things more interesting! (by the way, since I have the rest of July basically free, I'm going to churn these chapters out as fast as I can)

---------------------

After the Metal Trial festival, Heatblast weaned himself away from his adoring fans and Ripjaws. Sneaking out the back way, he headed to the Health Center of the Academy. He had an old friend to visit.

He was surprised to see the place fairly devoid of students and staff alike. You think that more people would visit their comrades after their great battles. The place was eerily quiet with only the heater humming away to itself. Only a few light bulbs were on, the rest of the lobby was lit by the setting sun allowing the room to settle in semi-darkness. Heatblast had been here a few times before but never anything serious. The place seemed more like a morgue to him then a real recovery center, which was one of the reasons he never stayed long.

He approached the nurse at the front desk and said, "Excuse me, I'm here on a visit to see one of my friends."

The nurse gave him a brief look over and said, "What's the name of your friend?"

"DCELR8," he replied smoothly.

The nurse typed up the name and gave him the room number, she then said, "Visiting hours will be over soon so I suggest that you don't cut idle chit chat."

Heatblast nodded and took the slip of paper. He then smiled to himself. He remembered an incident long ago-before the Earth Trial if he was correct-where DCELR8 handed a similar size paper. Heatblast forgot its purpose but it was something important, for he burned it accidentally and that peeved DCELR8. Careful not to burn this paper, he trudged on down the quiet hallways.

When he got to the room, he knocked on it several times. A long pause followed that and a cold voice said, "Come in."

Heatblast creaked open the door and saw DCELR8 lying on his bed. Heatblast held back a laugh as he saw the state that his friend was in. Bandages spotted the blue lizard like the spots on a Dalmatian and his only arm was in a sling. Both of his metal prostheses were gone and instead, mangy stumps were in its place. He was a sight for sore eyes.

Heatblast also saw that DCELR8 was tense when he saw the door open, however, once he saw it was just his Pyronite friend, he relaxed. A little.

"Oh…it'sss you," he said uneasily as he relaxed into the downy pillow.

Heatblast gave a jaunty smile and said, "Is that anyway to treat your friend who you haven't seen in a long time?"

DCELR8 shrugged and said, "Right now, I don't know who are my friendsss and who aren't."

Heatblast pulled up a metal chair and sat in it, he then replied, "I'm not surprised, after that little confession of yours, I wouldn't be surprised if there were several people plotting to kill you now."

DCELR8's eyes flashed and said, "I bet you anything you like, but I think that right now, the Royal Four Armsss family are planning what they should do to me."

"Any guesses on what will happen to you?"

DCELR8 tried to give a shrug but found it was too painful, after wincing a bit he said, "Who knowsss? Shoot me, hang me, torture me. Trying to assassinate a Prince-even if he _isss_ an exiled prince-isss not what you would call _sssmall_ treason."

"When-"

"Will it happen?" DCELR8 interupted, "I don't know and I don't care. I'm going to try live my life asss best asss I can until then. However…" at this point he gestured around the room, "I'm failing miserably at that too."

Heatblast nodded in silent pity. He then said, "DCELR8, how _did_ you survive the Earth Trial? The last time I saw you was right before my fight with Stinkfly when she and I accidentally fell over a cliff."

DCELR8 smiled to that comment, as if it was a private joke. He then said, "Well, sssince you ask so politely, I'll tell you."

DCELR8 shifted to another position and said, "After your fall, I decided to continue on the climb up the mountain. It wasn't long though before the mountain'sss harsh weather got to me. I grew weaker after each climb and sssoon, I was on my handsss and kneesss, crawling for my life."

He laughed, "I actually got the flag, but right after I did, I fell unconsciousss to the storm and passed out. I was probably a momentsss away from death when those animalsss found me and took me back to their cave. There, they nursed me back to health. Barely, I wasss kept alive. They fed me ssscrapsss of meat from killsss they made. The more I ate, the ssstronger I became. I didn't know why they were doing thisss to me. But then it hit me. They were sssaving me asss food for later in case their current sssuply went out. I could sssee it in the way they treated me. Though they fed me, they fed me with a passion of hunger. I knew I had to escape.

"When I sssaw my chance, I took off. I planned it asss best as I could. I left early in the morning when they were all ssstill asleep. I ssstaggered my way down the mountain. With only one leg working and the other mangled and half-dead, it wasss by a miracle that I reached the bottom of the mountain. I wasss then picked up by a local villager who took me back to hisss village. I was taken to a bed and there, I wasss clothed, fed and given medicine for. However, the local doctor there took one look at my mangled limbsss and knew they had to go (to not risk infection you sssee)."

DCELR8 scratched the stump of his shoulder in absent thought and continued, "Thank the powersss above that they had a numbing agent, otherwise I would have probably killed them. Well, finally, after a long wait, membersss from the Academy came by to pick me up. They then took me back and fitted me with a mechanical arm and leg, which wasss pretty sssweet if you ask me."

"Why weren't you then added to my team?" enquired Heatblast.

DCELR8 shrugged and said, "Sssomething about how an extra member added herself to your team and thusss, you were full. Ssso they added me to Team Nightmare. However, the way I sssee it, we should be called Team Pussssy."

Heatblast laughed and said, "Why is that?"

DCELR8 smiled and said, "You were alwaysss and idiot. Don't you sssee? I'm convicted, Cuttooth'sss finally been labeled a psychopath and Tenten'sss dead! Three membersss gone like that!"

"You have any idea what will happen to the rest of your members?"

DCELR8 gave another painful shrug and said, "Don't know, don't care."

By now, a nurse came in and said, "Visiting time is over, I'm afraid you'll have to leave."

Heatblast gave a nod and got back up. After stretching he said, "Well, I'll be seeing you later…maybe."

DCELR8 nodded and Heatblast turned to go, right before he walked out the door, DCELR8 said, "Hey, Heatblast! Remember our little deal? Did you ssscore it?"

Heatblast stopped and said without turning around, "If I were you, I'd keep my big mouth shut about that. I don't want anyone to hear about our little bet. And yes, I did score it."

DCELR8 shook his head and said, "I wasss wrong to bet against a player."

Heatblast smiled to the side and said, "You were."


	75. The Vulpimancer Party

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I'm contemplating on rewriting the first 10 chapters of this story. However, I'm worried that I might lose all the comments that people left behind. I always loved to look at my reviews, it would be a shame if they all were gone. But, if I do that, my first chapters won't have horrible grammar…

---------------------

_They laugh at me when they say it couldn't happen! But it will! They'll rue to the day when they discover their mistakes and my brilliance!_

Grey Matter was sitting at another of one of his boring student party meetings. He sat near the back of the room as he looked at his hand held in sheer delight. He surfed the web while on it whenever he got bored and it helped in passing the time. Right now, he was busy adding essential zombie surviving supplies to his inventory. He needed to prepare himself before the great plague comes. Right now, he was looking for water purification tablets. Very handy when one is out in a chaotic planet stuck in the backwoods of a forest.

He was only half listening to his fellow speaker. The student went on and on, about how dismal their records seem and how due to the Metal Trial their previous top candidates for student election have been released from the Academy. He just went on and on in a dreary voice that always drove Grey Matter crazy when he heard it.

In the Academy's history there have always been two student parties; the main one, and the other one (Grey Matter's was the other one). For as long as anyone could remember, Students of Galaxy have been in control of the senate and presidential seats. They make up mainly the popular students of the Academy who in Grey Matter's harsh and ignorant opinion, thought they were idiots. Which was why he joined the Vulpimancer Party.

He looked around the room absent mindedly to look at his party peers. Many of them used to belong to Students of Galaxy but left due to how the main party didn't fulfill their glorified promises. Many of those said students also realized that Students of Galaxy were mainly filled with people who were just trying to get something on their resume. That idea sickened Grey Matter, who thought Student Senate should be filled with dedicated students who cared about the people they're representing and not themselves.

He smiled to himself, despite being in the opposition party, he rose to quite high ranks in recent times. A month ago, he was promoted to be the Vice-Chairman of the Financial Committee. A committee that many people, including senators, admitted was the most frustrating and time consuming seat of them all. Every day, Grey Matter and the other students would sit and listen to clubs plead to them for money for various activities. Whether it was for a grand opening, a party or for putting up fliers, Grey Matter would sit and contemplate/calculate their beggings. It was here that the real thrill of Senate started, where Grey Matter would argue for or against the certain club. It was always a joy to match wits with his fellow colleagues.

"Grey Matter!" cried a voice.

Grey Matter's floating thoughts suddenly went crashing down as the voice pulled him back into reality.

"Yes, what is it?" he said, trying to act like he was paying attention all along.

"I said, would you accept a nomination for you to be our presidential candidate?"

Grey Matter was stunned. Presidential candidate? Me? How preposterous! It was true that the Vulpimancer Party was down in its luck, but did they actually succumb to nominating _him_ to be their presidential candidate? He was about to say no to this ridiculous statement when he stopped. If he was the presidential candidate…he could tear up this whole election and bring its very foundation to its knees! Random thoughts of plans and ploys filled his little mind as he smiled to himself in maliciousness.

"Yes," he said gleefully, "I accept the nomination."

The nomination continued on with a surprisingly large amount of people declining their said nomination. Only a few people, including Grey Matter, accepted it.

The spokesperson then motioned Grey Matter forward, Grey Matter didn't want to get up from his comfortable seat at the back of the room but he did so anyways. He was the last one to arrive at the center of the room, he took his seat at the end of the row.

The presidential candidates were then barraged with questions about how they would handle the upcoming election. After each of the candidates thoughtful answers, it was Grey Matter's turn.

"Grey Matter, what do you think the party needs to do in order to win this upcoming election?"

Grey Matter thought the question was too broad to give any reasonable short answer. To answer any large problems with short and easy answers may seem impatient and obtuse. But he looked into the eyes of his eager party members and gave a quick side look to his presidential candidate. If they wanted him to answer what he truly thought of the whole deal he will.

"I think that we need to have more balls," he said matter-of-factly.

Though the response was a short answer in itself, he thought it was probably the best answer. He smiled to himself as he saw the mixed reactions from his fellow members. Most snicker at his statement while others frowned upon it. The questionnaire showed nothing upon his stony face and said, "Care to elaborate?"

Grey Mater placed his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. Continuing on in his calm voice he said, "Well, the way I see it, this party keeps getting screwed by the Dickheads of Galaxy because we're too much of a pussy to stand up to them."

At this point, students rebelled in anger at his choice of words and also the meaning behind his words. Grey Matter didn't care, he was just saying what he saw. He didn't beat around the bush to get to his point. He continued.

"Our tactics in the past I do admit seem reasonable and wise. Send speakers out to clubs to talk about our opinions…publish our views in the school newspaper…produce and distribute posters to buildings and so forth."

Grey Matter leaned in and hooked his hands together.

"But if we really want to win this election then we must break free from our comfort zone and take risks. Taking risks will not only get us notice more, it will tell people that we mean business. Now, if you want to continue along the same path as my respectable colleagues here have talked about, be my guest. However, if you want to take a chance and try something different and possibly insane, vote for me. I'm going to take all of you on a wild spaceship ride, and I'll guarantee you, we are not coming back down."

Grey Matter had absolutely no idea what that last sentence meant. He just pulled it out of the top of his head because it sounded good. He gave a mental shrug, he said it now and there was no turning back.

After a few more questions, Grey Matter and the rest of the presidential candidates went out of the room. The voting had to be kept a secret and Grey Matter respected that.

Carol Jabberwock, a female Dragon who was also running for the title of president, came up to him and said, "You have a lot of nerve for saying all those things back there."

Grey Matter held up his hands in a don't-care position and said, "I said what had to be say in my opinion. I firmly believe that we should get tougher against our opponents and we should take a stand for our opinions."

Carol flicked her forked tongue and said, "If only we had more people like you, we might actually win this time."

That was as far as a compliment she would give him (she was running against him after all), and just to prove the point she said, "However, your apparent lack of enthusiasm for your fellow senators is too obvious. If you are to be a proper leader, you need to show encouragement to all those who support you."

Grey Matter leaned against the wall and responded, "You could be right, however, I'm not going to say you are because I've never experienced true leadership before. But hey, I'm not going to dwell on it this moment. They're still voting in there, if I win, I'll think about what I should or should not do. If I lose, I can sit back and research any potential zombie attacks."

Carol said nothing to that.

A person came out the door and motioned them in, Grey Matter and the rest slowly ambled in. Taking their sweet and naïve time.

When Grey Matter took his seat he found that his heart was pounding, he cursed to himself. Why was he nervous? What did he have to lose or gain from this whole onslaught? Would it really matter to him if he lost? He shook his head, no, that wasn't it, he wouldn't really care if he lost. But if he won? That was something else. If he won, the burden of all the party would be upon his shoulders. It made him almost nauseous. He began to have second thoughts upon this whole presidential thing when…

"It is my pleasure to announce that we have selected Grey Matter to be our presidential candidate for the Vulpimancer party. Congratulations, Grey Matter!"

Everyone clapped for him, including the presidential candidates who did it to be polite. Grey Matter was for the second time that day, stunned. He gulped and he tried to bring back his composure. Tried, and failed.

The rest of the night went by in a blur, the party then moved on to decide who would be the vice-presidential candidate. Once again, Carol Jabberwock ran for the position and she was able to acquire it. Grey Matter knew that she would be a good vice-president to him since she was stable emotionally and wise mentally, something that he lacked both of.

After the party adjourned, several of the senators came up to Grey Matter to congratulate him or to offer him advice. Grey Matter only half-listened to them since he just wanted to go home and sleep all of this off like a bad hangover.

Once rid of said senators, Grey Matter trudged back home to his dorm. The cold weather was finally letting up and now, it was drizzling rain instead of sleet. Grey Matter didn't mind such weather. The rain felt nice upon his cool and slimy skin.

Just then, Carol approached him from behind, he tried to ignore her but that failed since she was now walking side by side of him. He bit his lip. Finally succumbing to the dead silence he said, "Err…congratulations on your vice-presidential nomination," Grey Matter gave a twisted look on his face. "Congratulations," he heard that word so many times tonight that it sickened him just to say it again.

But Carol nodded politely to him and said, "And you too on your presidential nomination."

Still refusing to look up to her, he said, "I assume that you wanted to talk to me about the upcoming election."

"Yes, I was thinking that what we should do is…"

"NO!" screamed Grey Matter as he stopped so suddenly, "I don't want to think about the election right now! I made the foolish mistake of offering myself up and now, I'm the damn president!"

"Nominated president," corrected Carol.

Grey Matter threw his hands up in the air and rolled his great yellow eyes and said, "Whatever, _nominated_ president. The point is, I must now carry the party and represent it wherever I go. Agh…"

He started walking again in a brisk pace, determined to lose Carol. But she wouldn't give up that easily. She caught up to him and said, "Listen! I don't know what your deal is but you got to shape up and be responsible to this! If you fall apart then the party falls with you."

Grey Matter stopped again; he took a deep breath and let it all out slowly. Closing his eyes he said, "I'm sorry. I'm just worried that I might not be able to handle this."

But when those words came out of his mouth something dawned on him. A glitter in his eyes sparkled as he smiled mischievously.

"You know what? This is like a challenge. One of those riddles that I always love to solve. How many balls does it take to win an election?"

He laughed out loud, Carol didn't.

He rubbed his hands together and said, "I always _love_ challenges, it makes my life so much less boring!

He turned to Carol and gave her a mock salute and said, "I'm sorry if I caused you to worry. Do not fret! For I am back to my old pompous and glorious self!"

"That's kind of worrying me…"

Grey Matter laughed again and this time patted her shin.

"Don't worry Carol, this is going to be fun! Let's see how many people we can shake up before this election is over!"  
And with that, the two of them began to discus in vivid detail about the future of their party as they walked home in the evening drizzle.


	76. Steal Your Heart

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** Okay, I'm not insane, this is a real word. Sperple. Yet I have looked for this word both in reading and popular online dictionaries and it's not even there. BUT IT'S REAL! I found it in the game Balderdash and I vowed one day I would use this word since it sounded so awesome. The meaning of the word? "To run off in all directions" (adding weird words that nobody knows is fun! I should do it more often). By the way, I'm starting to edit the first 10 chapters of the story, it's hard work getting through all of the God-awful writing, but I'm managing it…kind of.

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Ditto shifted the cooler in his hands into another position. The weight of the durable cooler pressed down against his now screaming, red hands. By now, he wanted to drop the cooler where it was and have the picnic where it falls.

But Stinkfly would have none of it. Handling only the folded up blanket and a Frisbee, she eagerly motioned Ditto along through the Academy's central park. Ditto gave a forced smile and said nothing about the weight of the cooler. He was a gentleman after all.

Finally, Stinkfly motioned a spot and Ditto dropped the cooler in relief. It hit the grassy floor making a _thunk!_ sound. The ice could be heard from within as they jostled around each other and the food. Ditto too flopped onto the ground and relaxed there for a brief moment. No one has ever called him the most fit creature ever and no one in their right mind should.

If Stinkfly noticed that Ditto was tired, she didn't show it on her face. Instead, she took the red blanket, unfolded it, and lay it down gently upon the grassy ground. Grabbing the Frisbee, she said, "Let's play Frisbee before we eat!"

Ditto staggered back upon his feet. Shaking his hands he said, "Alright, I'm going long!"

Ditto suggested the idea of tossing a Frisbee around before they settled down even though he wasn't good at it. He didn't mind that though, Stinkfly seemed not to for she screamed, "Here it comes!"

She then flung the disc at Ditto, and even though he was 15 feet away from her, she missed him entirely. The white toy went flying through the air and landed no where near Ditto. Ditto smiled, apparently, she wasn't good at Frisbee either.

As Ditto ran up to the fallen disc, she cried out, "Sorry!" Ditto shouted back "That's okay! Here!"

His throw also went wide, but unlike Ditto who didn't catch it at all, Stinkfly took off from the ground and nabbed it like a dragonfly would catch its prey in midair. Hesitating for only a brief second, she twirled about in the air and flung it back at Ditto. This time, Ditto was ready. For since he knew not where the disc would go, he separated himself into many copies.

"Wow!" exclaimed Stinkfly who was impressed with Ditto's super powers, "That guy can sperple like no other!"

Yes, Ditto's sperpling method was very useful in this situation. For as the copies ran off this way and that, the wayward Frisbee fell back down to the ground with one of the copies catching it in his small hands.

The copied Ditto pulled back his hand and released the Frisbee once again. Stinkfly dove to the flying disc and caught it with ease, but with all her eyes concentrating on that one disc, she flew right into a large tree. The Dittos cringed as they saw Stinkfly tumble down the tree, hitting each of the thick branches along the way.

After that mishap, Ditto and Stinkfly decided it was time for them to do something else. Not quite ready to sit down and eat, they decided to walk around the small lake that was in the center of the park. As they ducked underneath large boughs and jumped over small mud holes, they talked to one another about how there life was going.

"You know that town that lives not far away from the Academy?"

"Yeah."

"Well, their local theatre department is putting up a new play and after auditioning I have successfully gotten one of the main roles!"

Though Stinkfly was fan of neither acting nor music she knew that it meant a lot to Ditto. Clapping her hands in a polite manner she said, "That's great, Ditto! I'm glad you got it! What kind of show is it?"

At this point, Ditto puffed himself up and replied in an operatic voice, "It is a musical! Written many of my planet's years ago, Three Diamonds and a Ruby is about the meeting of two different species, both of different social classes, and their love amidst a political revolution.'

Returning back to his calm, natural voice he said, "You actually know one of the other leads of the story."

"I do?" said Stinkfly, she was thoroughly confused since she didn't know any of her friends acted.

"Yes, Ripjaws."

"Ah," now Stinkfly remembered. Ripjaws always loved to act even though she hardly told anyone about it. She seemed almost embarrassed every time the subject came up.

At this point they came across a log that was sprawled across part of the lake. Ditto hesitated not a moment longer and jumped upon the mossy log, stepping lightly across its greenish back. Stinkfly followed suit and jumped on as well.

Ditto peered down into the murky water and did not see the muddy bottom. An aquatic creature was near the surface and it eyed Ditto as if he was the most unusual thing it had ever seen. After blinking several times, the aquatic creature splashed back down into the water.

When Ditto got to the end of the log, he jumped off and landed upon the damp ground. Being a gentleman as he was, he held out his hand for Stinkfly to help her out even though she had wings. Stinkfly smiled at such manners and took the hand.

And then Ditto decided to do a little test. He held onto Stinkfly's hand even when she was off the dank log. If Stinkfly pulled it away, he would act like nothing ever happened. If she didn't, well, he was working on that.

And indeed Stinkfly did not let go. Ditto had to force himself not to look at their interlocking hands in surprise. In fact, he had a hard time trying to conceal his astonishment about it altogether. Acting as if it were very natural, Ditto and Stinkfly walked around the lake back to their picnic site.

Once the trek was done, Stinkfly and Ditto resumed their picnic and opened the heavy cooler. Stinkfly decided just to skip the plates all together and dig into the sour cream salad bowl like Wildmutt would when he attacks a helpless prey. Ditto watched in spry amusement as he saw her eat away the food. He himself took a sandwich and nibbled it away. Once Stinkfly was done, she seemed to come to her senses and looked embarrassed as she realized she made somewhat of a mess of herself. Ditto just waved his hand to the side to show that he didn't mind. He then handed her a napkin which she grabbed awkwardly and wiped her mouth with. Ditto then pulled out a cup and tossed it to her. She grabbed it with ease and looked at him questionably. He said nothing and pulled out an alcoholic beverage that was in a majestic blue bottle. Stinkfly was impressed, it was illegal to have alcohol of any kind on Academy grounds, for Ditto to have a potent (and a tasty potent at that) drink with him showed that he had tastes and skill.

Opening the bottle, he motioned her over. She crawled close enough, close enough that he could feel her breath upon him, that he poured the bottle into her cup. He then pour himself one and raised it up to her, "To our relationship!" he said.

Stinkfly did the same thing and said, "Ditto!"

Ditto heard that joke so many times that it grown stale, but when Stinkfly said it he laughed and the two clinked their mugs together.

They drank.

Stinkfly took one pull, threw aside her mug and pulled Ditto in.

Ditto was not use to such aggressiveness from a female but he found out that he liked it! He submerged himself into Stinkfly's embrace. He felt his heart beat faster and felt so happily warm.

Stinkfly pulled away, sooner than he would have liked but that was understandable since it was a first kiss. He felt euphoric at the moment.

But his euphoria soon melted away when he saw the look on Stinkfly's face. She looked overall confused.

"I feel…" she said, "That I have tasted these lips before…"

_Oh shit._ thought Ditto, _please, by the powers above, please let her not remember that night._

But Stinkfly did remember. All four of her eyestalks straightened out, a sign her species show when they're surprise, and said in a startled voice, "You! That night! It was you who stole the girls' underwear!"

Ditto blushed deeply, the way she said underwear made his inside's almost tear up, "Listen…"

"NO!" Stinkfly took several steps back, "Your one of those sick perverts, aren't you?"

"No!" stammered Ditto as he stood up, "It's nothing like that!"

"Oh? So, what is it _really_ like?"

"I…I'm an amateur thief. In fact, the Enigma Force is made up of amateur thieves. We love to steal things."

Stinkfly was taken aback by this comment, whatever she was expecting _that_ wasn't it.

Trying to find her voice she said, "So what…are you one of those klepto…thingys?"

"Kleptomaniac? Oh, no. Kleptomaniacs steal things without even realizing they're stealing them. We're fully realized that we steal objects of value."

He gave a shrug as if it was a fact of life.

"Why?" enquired Stinkfly.

"Have you ever felt bored with your life? Like everything was too easy? I did, and then I discovered that stealing things gave a spice in life. Imagine it." Ditto's voice grew almost maniacal as he was saying this, his fingers twitched with energy, "the threat of being discovered and punished. Pitting one's wits and intelligence against another's. And the prize is the very thing you steal. It's so…_amazing._"

Stinkfly didn't know what to think of all of it. Stealing? Was this worse than being a pervert? She shook her head, of course it was.

"But…you _lied_ to me!" she said, "You knew about this all along and you never told me! You could have at least told me about your stealing…habit."

Ditto looked sad at this and said, "Stinkfly…"

"No…I…I got to go, goodbye, Ditto,"

Stinkfly turned around and without a second glance took off leaving a lonely and sad Ditto behind. Stealing his fluttering heart away and leaving behind a heavy cooler.


	77. Political Ploys

Note: first fanfic, will improve as I go along, I have been a gamemaster on my past RP site so the action should be good, and I do not own Ben 10 or anything that is remotely like Ben 10.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE OF GLORY:** I need to dedicate one of the romantic chapters to my first girlfriend who meant a lot to me. I past some good ones and the ones coming up won't work very well. Maybe I should just dedicate a chapter that has something to do zombies since she _does _like those.

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Cannonbolt looked at the well mannered poster. It was quite lavish in design and it was appealing to look at. The background was composed of a starry sky composure along with meteors that streaked the page. It was very well done. However, he wasn't looking at the background, he was looking at the bold headline that was written in bright red and electric blue.

DICKHEADS OF GALAXY

And below the said statement was a list, of all the things that the Students of Galaxy student party promised and never fulfilled. There were a variety of them that were all very much true. One of them was to include a larger pool that was not just for working out but also for recreation. Another was how they would work on crime and rape rate of the campus yet that has of yet to go down. That and more were listed neatly and alluringly upon the page.

But Cannonbolt adjusted his reading glasses, shifted his enormous weight on his equally enormous chair and let the poster fall down onto his desk. Right in front of Grey Matter.

Grey Matter just sat at the opposite end of his desk (the chair was too low for him) and just glanced at the poster like it was a trivial object. He raised his eyebrow ridge as if asking a question to Cannonbolt.

"Is this the reason why you summoned me to your office, Sir?" enquired Grey Matter.

Cannonbolt nodded and said, "It was indeed. I must say, Grey Matter, that ever since you started running for president, I have been given a number of complaints from both my colleagues and from students about you and your party actions."

"Such as?" asked Grey Matter. Though he phrased it in a question, Cannonbolt knew that Grey Matter was well aware of his actions. However, Grey Matter was not going to plead guilty right there and then, he was going to stick to his guns and argue against Cannonbolt and whatever argument he may have. Cannonbolt held back the temptation to bite his lip in frustration, he could not show Grey Matter weakness. That was the last thing he wanted.

"Such as this," he said pointing a bear-like claw at the poster, "Saying "Dickheads of Galaxy" is a negative opinion that directly affects the student party, Students of Galaxy. To say such a thing to a group of students, and a rather large group of students at that, is just like saying all Tetramands are idiots and all Galvans are cowards."

Cannonbolt used the Galvan stereotype here in hopes that it would better his message towards Grey Matter. That tactic must have failed for Grey Matter did not change his calm expression and he said, "But Cannonbolt, look at the facts that the poster has. Look at all the promises that the Students of Galaxy promised but left unfulfilled. Doesn't all of this and more make them Dickheads?"

"It means they're politicians," said Cannonbolt savoring the little joke to himself, "But it also means that their positions are not as strong. Addressing their political problems is one thing, but calling them outright a "dickhead" is too far. Which is why I'm going to put a ban on all Vulpimancer posters for two weeks. Hopefully by then you'd have revised your political tactics to something less…outrageous."

"Two weeks!" shouted Grey Matter, "That's BS, sir! I'm just doing what is right for my party and what is right for the students! And besides, someone needs to kick those Dickheads of Galaxy in the balls!"

Looking him straight in the eye, Cannonbolt said, "It will be wise for you to discontinue your argument, especially an argument towards your own professor. If you keep up your irrational behavior, I'll double the length of the suspension."

That seemed to shut up Grey Matter. Whatever Grey Matter was, he was no fool. Plainly, Grey Matter didn't like the idea of the suspension in the first place but a suspension for four weeks he would hate even more.

Grey Matter quickly left after that sourful meeting.

The next day, Cannonbolt was walking towards his apartment when he came across an image that was chalked onto the sidewalk. That in itself was quite odd since pictures made by chalks were not very common in the Academy. But as he approached the drawing he noticed something interesting to say to the least.

It should be noted at this time who the president and vice president candidates are for the Students of Galaxy. The vice president is a male alien of the same species as Stinkfly known as Drosid and the president is a female alien of the same species as Blizzard known as Hailstorm. Cannonbolt never did like them but they were popular, and cunning enough, to get themselves elected several times in a row. Hailstorm in particular was like Blizzard in every shape and form except that she actually had some wits to go with her attracting pheromones. Which made her all the more deadly.

Anyways, what Cannonbolt saw made him almost lose his composure and break down laughing. It was a drawing of a Vulpimancer that was on top of Hailstorm doing something rather inappropriate to her. The expertise of the drawing combined with the enjoyed, drawn Hailstorm made it so that some would find it very hilarious while others would find it revolting.

After controlling his need to laugh, Cannonbolt was just about to figure a way to punish Grey Matter _this _time when he noticed something unique about the drawing. There was no mention whatsoever of Students of Galaxy nor of the Vulpimancer Party. It was just the vulgar drawing and that's it.

Cannonbolt smiled to himself in bemusement and he scratched his lower lip, a sign that he was thinking. Whoever drew this drawing was very clever not to reveal who did what. For all Cannonbolt knew, the drawing could have been made by a girl who was angry at Hailstorm for stealing her boyfriend. Or it could be a statement from a boy who drew how Hailstorm was very prominent in her sexual life. Whoever it was that made the drawing, they must be pleased right now.

Cannonbolt looked around and saw no other professor in sight. Adjusting his comfortable suit, he walked around the drawing and gave it not a second glance.


End file.
